


Beautiful Pain

by astarpen



Category: Glee
Genre: F/F, G!P
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-26
Updated: 2015-10-29
Packaged: 2018-04-01 09:33:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 14
Words: 84,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4014688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astarpen/pseuds/astarpen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Quinn slowly tilts her head and looks at Rachel who is looking at the gun and squeezing it desperately. Perhaps she wasn't that big of a coward . "Next time, I suggest getting a loaded gun," she says coolly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to Beautiful Pain, another small little world that I have in my head that is going to have numerous pairings. Now because this needs to be said. I don't do trigger warnings at the beginning of chapters. But since this is the first chapter I'm going to say this. There is some pretty graphic stuff in this. So reader beware. I don't like spoiling the chapter. So I'm just going to stick a massive trigger warning on this entire fic. You have been sufficiently warned. There is some pretty dark stuff in this. Unhealthy relationships galore. So if you want your stuff tied into a neat little bow, I'm sorry.
> 
> Now as for whether there is any G!P? Yes. Santana. It will only be Santana in this fic that has it.
> 
> Pairings: Quinn/Rachel Charlie/Santana Brittany/Frannie various other pairings
> 
> Summary: Quinn slowly tilts her head and looks at Rachel who is looking at the gun and squeezing it desperately. Perhaps she wasn't that big of a coward . "Next time, I suggest getting a loaded gun," she says coolly.
> 
> Song: Beautiful Pain by Eminem featuring Sia
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own anything Glee wise.

 

* * *

She gripped the pillow tightly between her fingers, squeezing her eyes tightly shut. She was desperately trying to block out the sounds of him grunting above her. The feeling of his hips hitting her ass at a punishing pace. She loathed the feeling of his sweat hitting her with his quick movements, or his big hands clumsily fondling her breasts. He thought she liked it, but she hated she hated everything about him. She knew from the smell, his sweat and the smell of sand and the grease that coated underneath his nails that he hadn't bathed in a few days. She wanted this to be over, she remembered months ago that it had never lasted this long. But she was his, and there was no escape. There would never be an escape not for her.

" _Mine_. _You're mine_." He hisses into her ear, pressing his body against her back and grabbing a massive fistful of her hair. He doesn't care that he hears her cry out in pain. She'd been spending too much damn time with that mechanic. Talking to the freak of nature and if he could—if he wasn't afraid of what she might do if she saw this, he'd fuck her right there in front of her. She was his property. "I _claimed you_." He spits out venomously at her. "You should be _thanking me_ ," he snarls angrily at her letting go of her. He pulls out and flips her over so he can take a look at her. He places one of his hands against her neck squeezing, digging his dirty fingers into her skin.

She struggles to breathe against his hands, but he's not going to let go until she says what he wants to hear. What's she's learned to say when he's this angry and frustrated, " _Thank you baby."_ She manages to get out and she feels his grip on her throat. Bile rises to her throat even though she's lost count of how many times she's said it to him. That stupid look crosses his face and he leans in and kisses her, it's sloppy with his tongue forcing its way into her mouth. She nearly retches against him, but that will only lead to something far worse. So she kisses back, like she's supposed to. She's _his_ _property_ , and the devil you knew was better than the devil you didn't. It's what her daddy had used to say, before he had killed them. He had claimed her as his, as his property. She hated him more than anything, and she had dreamed of the day that she could kill him. She wanted to kill him but she didn't want to die.

He pulls back and his hands return to her breasts and he squeezes her nipples, enjoying the sound of her crying out, the moans and the squeals that escape her lips, and he thrust himself back into her with little fanfare. "I saved you—I _saved you_." He repeats over and over again, each word punctuated by a rough thrust into her. "You _owe me_." He puffs out his chest because he's her hero. "And she can't have you," he slaps one of her breasts hard and she lets out a groan of pain.

" _Harder baby._ Please, I need you, _please_ —you're my— _hero_." It's practiced, she knows what she needs to say. It doesn't matter how many times she says it, no matter how many times he hits her and beats her, she'll never forgive him, she'll never forget and even though he wants her to—she'll never love him. That's what she thinks he wants. She'll give it to him and she'll chose the right moment. So she moans again, loudly arches her body and pretends that she's enjoying him forcing himself upon her. Day in and day out.

He puffs his chest out with pride and he continues to move his hips as he feels his orgasm fast approaching, one day she'll say the three words he wants to hear, she'll mean it to. It'll get better after that and he lets out a loud grunt as he climaxes, his watery seed. She pants her thanks as he pulls out and he flashes her a smile and reaches to tuck some of her hair behind her ear. "You know I care about you," he murmurs gently. "I can wait for you to love me too." He leans over and kisses her cheek, and places a hand on her stomach stroking it slowly and gently. She just didn't understand that he was protecting her. He was giving her preferential treatment, the resources lately had been scarce and they had needed to unload most of their cargo just to get the necessary supplies. "I'll keep protecting you," he promises and he sees her smile at him. He smiles back because he's wearing her down, he knows that one day she'll be his.

"Finn." Azimio watched as their commander sat up, not bothering to cover his nudity, he barely spared a glance at his pet. "Karofsky and Strando, are back from their patrol. We've got captives. Women." A smirk crosses his face, he had called dibs. It had been awhile since they had some pussy to play with. Finn's pet was off-limits no matter, and that damned mechanic was a freak of nature. So he didn't look and he didn't care about the bruises that littered her body. It was none of his god damn business.

Finn stands up and reaches for his pants, pulling them on quickly as he buckles his belt and slips into a pair of boots. He hated the hot sand on his feet it burned but the world was a desert now. A wasteland with very few pockets of paradise. Even if they found one it never stayed that way for long. He had heard stories that once it was different. Once the world had been a jewel, with billions of people. Skyscrapers that reached the skies. Where there was plenty of water for everyone. It had been a _utopia_. That had been hundreds of years ago before _they_ had come from the sky. No one knew what they were—he had heard different terms for them throughout the years. Aliens. Gods. Officially they were called the 149's and they had stripped the world of its precious resources. Tearing the world asunder. Killing billions of people.

The world was a wasteland, not as it was once was. But humanity had survived, like cockroaches, they survived. They had fought back creating monsters to fight them. To beat them back, but that had changed the world completely. Monster's roamed the world. So humanity had built cities, he heard that there were some all over the world. Citadels all over the world, where people lived in those buildings that touched the sky where they had huge walls protecting them from the outside world. A world where there were no silly rules where only the _strong_ survived. Where you took what you needed and you did what you wanted. His father had taught him that. That it was better to be a butcher rather than the cattle. There were no rules on the outside and anything went, so long as you were strong enough to take it.

Finn grabs his shirt tossing it on his shoulder as he pulls the flap of his tent upward and he walks out towards the middle of their most recent camp and he looks at the two women who are standing there with some rope around their wrists and he smirks. It's a catch it had been awhile since they had managed to get some cargo as beautiful as this. "Where'd you find them?" he asks, there's an itch in his brain that tells him that he should be careful. But his men haven't had fun in a while, and they deserved it.

"Their car had broken down—old thing," Karofsky says. "They asked for our help—so we helped them alright." This is met with wild laughter from the men, and he smiles quite pleased with himself. "Maybe we can send the _freak_ out to go take a look at their vehicle, maybe it has some parts that can be salvaged."

Finn nods and walks over to their new captives to expect the goods. He reached forward and grabbed one of them by the chin to inspect her. Her eyes were defiant but that was to be expected, his men were very capable of breaking their cargo of that. Trading humans was a low risk, high reward business, and identical twins—well they'd fetch a fortune on the open market.

"Now?"

Finn turns to the twin who spoke confusion and looked at his men, "What?" he asked letting her go.

Karofsky shrugged his shoulders and watched as the freak finally left her tent to finally join them, not that he cared. She wasn't getting a piece of their prize. "She's been saying that every five minutes or so." He answers truthfully. It had been annoying and not even the butt of his gun seemed to silence her.

"Are you the leader?" The other twin asked him causing Finn to turn back to her. She pauses he has a very stupid expression on his face and she repeats her question again. Slowly, so he understands her. "Are. You. The. Leader?"

Finn doesn't quite like her tone and he backhands her hard, he frowns slightly when her face moves a fraction. She should be on the ground not standing up and looking at him with those hard eyes of hers. He gets into her face, not noticing that the freak is moving towards him pushing some of the men aside roughly. "Of course I am," he snarls. "I get to decide whether you live or you die—" He's yanked back forcefully and thrown back.

The twin that had questioned him turned to her identical twin who was giving her an expectant look. It brings a cruel, bloodthirsty look to her eyes. "Go, nuts Charlie." Quinn says as she pulls her hands apart, causing the rope that had been there to snap as if it was nothing. It was insulting and annoying that this wouldn't be any more of a challenge, especially with the fact that they were still in shock. She grabs the nearest gun, wrenching it from the grip of her 'captors'. It was the one that had enjoyed throwing his weight around. Kar-something or rather. She doesn't hesitate to pull the trigger.

It's the sound of the gunshot that seems to wake everyone up as Karofsky slowly falls to the ground. He lands on his knees, a surprised expression frozen on his face. There's a hole in the middle of his forehead and blood and a bit of brain matter slowly dripping down his face. "They're fucking _modded!"_ Azimio shouts immediately horror on his face at his friend dead on the ground. He barely has time to react as he feels a tearing sensation at his throat and he tries to bring his hands to his neck, but his vision blurs and the ground is getting closer. His body is no longer responding and he to falls to the ground dead.

Santana drags Finn backwards throwing him at his tent. She personally doesn't know why she's saving his sorry ass, with all his comments and how he treats her. How he treated Rachel—she hated him but he was a necessary evil. He's kept her under the radar, away from people like these two twins. She doesn't want to go back—she can't go back. Whatever Finn was—he had given her a safe haven. Finn's men are dying at an accelerated pace and the sand and dirt are becoming clumpy from the red sticky blood that is oozing out of their wounds. "Move—I'll handle this," She says without looking back at Finn. Instead she lunges forward moving fast, she needs to strike hard and fast if she wants to win this, and she goes for the one that is currently stomping her boot into the broken and horribly mangled skull of who she _assumes_ to be Phil.

Charlie catches sight of the smaller woman moving to attack her in her peripheral vision, she side steps at the last possible second dodging the punch. She frowns as she twists away, she had assumed that she had a knife or something. Because attempting hand to hand combat with her was like she was asking to die. She frowns ever so slightly as the woman adjusts fasts and follows it up with a spin hook kick that moves faster than she's anticipating. It catches her temple, and instead of her body absorbing the impact she loses her balance ever so slightly and takes a step to catch herself. She stares at the woman for a moment, in shock for a moment, before a twisted grin appears on Charlie's face. She had thought that this was going to be a bust. It was never fun when the prey was easy to take down, and she was sure that she'd get something for dragging back another modded being. She knows what she's dealing with now so when the shorter woman attacks again she's ready, dodging her handedly and grabbing her arm throwing her onto the ground and slamming her foot down hard onto her ribs.

For any _regular_ human, having your ribs broken with such a forceful blow would be the end of the fight. But she only heard the damage, she doesn't feel the pain. Not anymore, which means that she can work through it, she can push past it. All she needs to do is take her out and she can finish off the other one. She grabs Charlie's foot and pulls hard dragging her off balance and causing her to come crashing to the ground. Santana moves, quickly she needs to end this fight now and as this Charlie person recovers, which is faster than she anticipates she slams her fist as hard as she can into her face, hoping that it at least knocks her out. She hears a satisfying crunch and she smirks, payback for the broken ribs. But she feels a hand grab her wrist, shocking her for a moment as she looks at Charlie. Despite the broken nose and her strongest punch in this position is still very much conscious.

Her nose is _broken_ and she knows Quinn is going to mock her for days for letting it get this far. This fight had gone on long enough and without hesitation she gets up still holding her hand. She seems to be in shock and she doesn't really care because her nose is broken. Without hesitation she grabs her by the neck and throws her hard into one of the old beaten up jeeps. There's a loud bang as her body collides with enough force to dent and crack the aluminum paneling. Charlie watches as Santana slumps onto the ground and groans as she holds her nose to make sure she's not dead.

Quinn glanced at the dead bodies on the ground, she had seen him head into one of the tents and she stepped over the bodies. Their job wasn't complete unless every last person was dead. They were useless. Every last one of them, the way they had talked to her, the assumptions that they could _break her_ pissed her off. So they would die, every last one of them would die. Quinn moved to the big tent, she could hear him muttering, fiddling with a gun. She rotates her muscles hearing the joints pop quietly before she chooses to move, pushing past the flap of the tent and moving before he can get a good shot off. She feels something graze her shoulder, his hands are shaking and he can't get a good shot off when she relieves him of the gun. She doesn't hesitate to slam her knee into his crotch. He drops to the ground screaming and howling in pain. "I get to decide whether you live or you die," Quinn repeats in a mocking tone pushing the gun into his face. She pauses for a second and turns quickly pointing her gun at a naked woman. She frowns at her, her lips curling in disgust as she notices the white substance dripping down her legs, bruises littering her body.

Rachel stumbles backwards as the taller blonde woman approaches, she had hidden once the gunfire had started. She had heard the shouts of agony and the thuds. It hadn't lasted long and she had taken a peek before Finn had practically shoved her inside and ordered her to hide again. All of Finn's men were dead and she hadn't known what that meant. Because Santana should have been there to protect them. She was modded just like this woman clearly was—and it was the only real reason the men left her alone. "I—" she begins managing to get it out. She's scared. For the first time she the numbness peels away and she doesn't know what to say or to do.

Quinn's nose twitches, she can smell him all over her and it disgusts her. But it's clear from the bruises the old ones and the new ones that this wasn't something that she had wanted. "Do you want to kill him?" she asks. "To stop being _his_ victim?" She rotates the gun and offers it to the woman. She could disarm and her and kill her if she was nothing more than a broken puppet. They had seen this before a million times, women and men who were broken down. It's why they preferred to simply kill everyone.

Rachel stares at the gun for a moment and she hesitates looking at Finn, who is still clutching his pitiful junk. It's her opportunity, it's what she's been waiting for and she looks at the blonde woman who is staring at her expectantly. Is it a trick? Rachel takes the gun, her hands shaking. She stares at Finn this is what she wanted. She wasn't going to be his victim anymore.

Finn looks at Rachel as he slowly makes his way to his feet. He gives her a smug smile, "I'm not just anyone—I'm your savior. I _saved you_. You're _mine—_ " The shot hits him in the shoulder and his body twists as he falls to the ground not quite sure what had happened. He looks up as he touches the wound, blood leaking out. " _Rachel_ ," he snarls angrily.

Her name is the last thing he says, as more shots ring out. She keeps pulling the trigger moving closer until she's above him, emptying the clip into his body. There are tears streaming down her face as she does this, it's like a relief. She's free. She's finally free, she's finally managed to avenge her father who had just been trying to protect her. He can't hurt her anymore. He can't hurt anyone else anymore. Her stomach flops as she stares at the corpse that is ridden with bullet holes and her stomach flops and rebels against her. She drops the gun and moves away, emptying the meager contents of her stomach onto the ground in the corner.

Quinn studies the woman—Rachel—for a moment, before walking out of the tent to start stripping things down and scavenging for things that the city might need. She steps over a broken body and looks at her twin and frowns ever so slightly as she watches Charlie drop a person into one of the jeeps. Her face was a bloody, bruised mess even though the bruises already looked several days old. "Do I want to know what happened to you?" Quinn asks watching as Charlie looks at her nose in one of the side mirrors. "Come here," Quinn orders watching as Charlie makes a face and heads over.

Charlie sighed and moved towards Quinn, finding a genetically modified person as part of a caravan was odd. There hadn't been any talks of a modded individual going AWOL, the last time she checked, and she didn't recognize her at all. "She's got mods Quinn, probably illegal. I figure we should probably bring her back. She's _useful_." She grimaces as Quinn forcefully tilts her head backwards and then resets her nose. " _Fuck_." She hisses.

Quinn watches as her twin rubs her face for a moment and rolls her eyes. It served her right for being careless. She walks by her twin and looks at the unconscious woman, "She's not going to stay like that for long and we both know that rope won't _hold her_." Quinn says tapping her chin.

"Puck keeps a pair of enhanced cuffs on him at all times," Charlie speaks up and Quinn turns to her.

A smirk crosses Quinn's lips. "Of course he does. We'll keep a gun on her until we can radio Mike and the others to come pick us up." Quinn looks around the camp. "Strip it down Charlie, grab everything that isn't nailed down and see if you can find anything about our missing scouts." This wasn't a scavenging mission, their real mission had been to start looking for their missing scouts. They had gone AWOL, the third scouting party in weeks. It was never a good sign, and it was why the higher ups had sent their team in to investigate. Maybe Mike, Puck and Sam were having better luck.

Charlie made a face but began to do what she was told grabbing guns, and tossing them into a spare vehicle that they were going to take back with them. She pauses for a moment when a short woman wanders out from the main cabin and she tilts her head. "Quinn? You missed one." Charlie said nodding towards Rachel who looked absolutely haggard.

Quinn turns from where she's begun to pick up weapons and looks at the woman for a moment, she had counted the shots and that gun that she was clutching onto tightly was empty. Quinn's hazel eyes travel across her body, she's wearing clothes that are far too big for her. Probably his clothes. It would be almost comical except for the haunted look in her eye. Quinn watched her for a few seconds more they had already cleared most of the guns and she wasn't a threat to them. She would just do what she normally did give the girl a few bullets and let them live or die by their own hands. They didn't take in strays. She wasn't a threat and Quinn kept stripping down the camp taking things that they needed and other things.

Rachel looks around at the corpses. She hasn't seen this much blood—this much destruction since her family and caravan had been destroyed. Her father had been killed as had many others. Those that had lived—people like her and a few of the other women and some of the pretty boys had been taken. She could still remember the cruelty, hearing Finn's men breaking them in. She shivered even though she wasn't cold. She hadn't seen Santana—and maybe if she was still alive they could escape together and find someone else—someone kinder. She watches Quinn throw the first aid kit into the truck and she finally spots Santana lying there her face bruised and her heart drops. "Santana?" Her voice causes the two twins to look at her. Rachel burns for a moment, the fear returning but she needs to get to Santana to save her and she pulls the gun up and points it at Quinn. "Let—let her go!" she shouts at her.

Quinn stares at Rachel and goes back to stripping the camp. "No," she states in a bored tone. "She's coming with us. Now put the gun down before you get yourself hurt." Quinn said grabbing a few appliances and picking it up and walking past Rachel who is still pointing the gun at her. She dumps the appliances in the car. It's strange that she seems to care about this modded person. Rachel was clearly unenhanced. But she has better things to do than think about some crazy human.

Rachel swallows, she had saved her but Santana was her friend, and she wasn't going to just let her take her. "I swear, I'll shoot!" Rachel says and she watches as Quinn stops and walks up to her, until the gun which was shaking violently in her hands was pressed against Quinn's chest.

"So _shoot_ ," Quinn said holding her hand up to stop her sister. "Shoot me." She repeats again. She could practically smell the fear that was coming off Rachel in waves. But like practically every human in existence Rachel doesn't pull the trigger. Quinn turns to go back to stripping the camp when she hears the very familiar click of someone pulling the trigger to an empty gun. Quinn slowly tilts her head and looks at Rachel who is looking at the gun and squeezing it desperately. Perhaps she wasn't that big of a coward. "Next time, I suggest getting a loaded gun," she says coolly.

Rachel flushes angrily, when she hears the laughter from the other twin and watches as Quinn goes back to stripping the camp of weapons. She clenches her hands into fists for a moment and looks at Santana, letting the gun fall to the ground. They were supposed to get free together. "I'm coming with you then." Santana would know what to do once she woke up and she could help her escape. But she was ignored by Quinn and she stomped her foot. "Santana is my friend and I'm not going to leave without her."

Charlie rolled her eyes and moved closer to Rachel, she was holding them up and she wanted to go home. Her hand shot forward, she had every intention of snapping her neck and being done with it so they could be on their way. There was nothing left of value and there was no sign of the missing scouts.

"Charlie." Quinn said firmly not even bothering to look up at her twin. "We're taking her with us." Her tone was one filled with boredom as she looked at the crudely drawn maps. Maybe someone back at the Citadel could make heads or tails of this.

Charlie paused her hand on Rachel's baggy shirt as she turned to her twin. "We don't take in strays Quinn," Charlie reminded her sister. It would be so much easier to kill her and be done with it.

"She has a use. _For_ _now_ ," Quinn says. "Information. She's going to tell us _everything_ she knows about this operation. I doubt these pieces of shit managed to take out three scouts, but perhaps she knows who did." Quinn said. "Besides if she's truly friends with her—then she might be useful in keeping her under control until we can slap some cuffs onto her."

Charlie studies Rachel for a moment, she can smell that gross man all over her, Quinn was probably right. "Fine but she's _your_ responsibility." Charlie says with an irritated sniff. "Now can we _please_ get out of here?" Charlie asks.

Quinn's eyes flick over the camp once more looking for anything big that they might have missed but she doesn't see anything. She gets tossed a set of keys by Charlie and moves to Rachel, grabbing her shirt and tugging her along. She meets some resistance and she stops. "Do _not_ make me carry you."

"I don't even know who you are or where you're taking me or Santana." Rachel says trying to keep her wits about her. She juts out her chin defiantly. It was something that would earn her a swift backhand from Finn no matter what she was doing but she wasn't going to let them bully her. She was done with being the victim.

Quinn stares at Rachel for a moment and she hears her twin snort in laughter as she starts the engine of her jeep, and she closes her eyes and counts to ten. The amusement that she had felt at Rachel's courage and her tenacity was the only reason she was coming with them in the first place. She doubted that Rachel knew anything of relative use. But she was quickly becoming irritated. Her irritation didn't pass, especially not with Charlie laughing at her and she did the only thing she could think of because she really wasn't in the mood to talk. She scooped Rachel up and tossed her over her shoulder. She barely felt her kicking and yelling at her as she dumped her in jeep. Quinn didn't hesitate to climb into the driver's seat as she followed her twin who had already begun the long drive back to where most of their gear was stashed.

* * *

Mike didn't quite know what to make of their two captives who were sitting quietly in the back of the transport vehicle. He should say something but he was still in shock that they even _had_ captives to be taking back. They had been relatively quiet for the entirety of their two day journey once they had linked up with Charlie and Quinn. He hadn't exactly known what to say to the twins, it certainly didn't matter to them that he was in charge of their five-man squad. They never stopped leaving him speechless, it was no wonder they were dubbed the wonder twin's by the media. Though that had more to do with the fact that they _shouldn't_ exist. Just like their two captives shouldn't be in the back of their transport vehicle, with Sam guarding them wordlessly. The twins never brought anyone back. Ever. For every caravan they found and destroyed, they stripped it of its resources and left the people who weren't threats to fend for themselves. He imagined they starved to death or if they were lucky they found another caravan to take them in.

Puck crossed his arms over his chest as he eyed the massive Citadel walls that surrounded what used to be New York City. He had heard that it was one of the biggest Citadel's on the planet, one of the strongest. It also had the most modded soldiers that he was aware of. "So—is anyone going to talk about the fact that the twins are bringing two people into the Citadel?"

Mike glanced at Puck for a moment, "Santana—I believe her name was, is a rare find and she will have her uses. No matter what. It's their job to bring back resources and she is a resource. The other one, well I don't quite know what they were thinking with that one. It's no matter. She's _healthy_. They'll find a use for her, like they do with everyone else. Or she'll be exiled. Everyone needs to pull their own weight. I imagine they have their reasons and you know they're not going to share it with us."

Puck rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, it wasn't fair that they got to have all the fun. The truck slowed as Mike motioned for him to get out their badges. "Well at least they didn't find the missing scouts," he muttered. Even though they were part of the same team it was all about the wonder twins.

"Yes but we didn't either." Worse, even though they were on the same squad it was a well-known fact that the twins worked alone. So they were basically coming home empty-handed. Mike sighed. "It's worrying. They didn't just fall off the face of the earth," Mike said with a sigh. He was sure to get hell at the debriefing.

"I still say it was overkill they didn't need to send us, when the normal army could have handled it." Puck said with a sigh as he held up his badge which was scanned.

"How many are you bringing in?" the guard at the gate asked.

"One new refugee. Healthy female, she's going to need to be sorted. The other—" Mike paused for a moment they didn't really have a system for someone like her. He sighs he might as well be honest. "The twin's found an enemy combatant who was genetically modified. They proceeded to engage and capture her, she's—healthy, well healthy after tangling with Charlie. I imagine that the Commander will want to see for herself. We've got her locked down, but we should put her in holding until the Commander is ready to deal with her." Mike said speaking up.

"Understood, I'll have a message sent to the Commander, so we can expedite this." The guard said. "The twins checked in about an hour ago and are waiting for you in Station 3 Garage C. You were flagged for a debriefing. So if I were you I'd head down there now you're already about an hour late and you know how impatient they get."

Mike groaned but nodded. "Have someone on deck to deal with both of them." He and the guard nodded and waved them through. He couldn't imagine this debriefing would go exactly as they wanted it to. The moment the garage opened and he noticed that the twins were not indeed waiting for them he smacked his head against the steering wheel. The only reason they had put him in charge was because none of the higher-ups thought it had been smart to put Charlie _or_ Quinn in charge. They liked him well enough so he had been given the horrible duty of wrangling the twins. A duty he was consistently failing in.

 


	2. Chapter 2

Most normal people in the Citadel knew that breaking and entering was one way to get you either killed or exiled from the Citadel, which was for all intents and purposes a death sentence on its own. Resources were limited, even in the Citadel, and the distribution of goods was based on your worth in society. There was no homelessness, there was no one going hungry, and the health needs of everyone were taken care of, so long as you contributed to society. Your worth to society determined where you lived, how good your food was and how much resources you could take. Stealing was a serious crime that was met with harsh penalties. It was why crime was practically non-existent in the Citadel. No one wanted to leave the protection of the Citadel. The world outside the walls was _lawless_. Everything and anything went, including slavery.

Even armed with all this knowledge, it still didn't stop Brittany S. Pierce from entering the twin's apartment. She hummed as she placed the paper bag onto the island in the kitchen and began to unpack. She had heard that they had come in last night, and she was glad to finally have her friends back. She unpacked most of the contents of the bag as she began to make them breakfast. She turned to look for a pan or something to use when she heard movement and she grinned at the twins. " _Morning!_ I managed to get my hands on some coffee—and I made more synthetic chocolate!" she said in a chipper voice. She watched in amusement as Charlie stared at her for a long moment before grunting at her. Charlie turned around and wandered back to her bedroom and fell face first onto the bed. She turned to Quinn and smiled at her as she pulled up a chair. "What do you think about pancakes?"

Quinn held her hands out for a cup of coffee—she didn't know how they made them. She didn't quite care, they had told Brittany again and again that they didn't wake up before noon if they could help it. But she came bearing gifts and they could tolerate that. "Brittany—did you get your hands on bacon again?"

Brittany smiles, she should have known, "Sorry Quinn, I would have made some for you but I didn't know that you two were coming back." Maybe they had some in the lab, she'd have to check later and tell them to come pick it up. She places a mug of coffee in front of Quinn, she drank it back before she put the non-dairy substitute into Charlie's mug. "Why didn't you two come find me when you came in?" she asks quietly.

Quinn studied Brittany for a moment, she was usually smiling and chipper and more importantly she always managed to get her hands on hard to get items for them. Which could only mean one thing. "What did she do now?" Quinn asked as she watched as Charlie finally took a seat beside her and grabbed her coffee. It was difficult to go back to sleep once they had been roused and she knew that Charlie would be in a mood all day.

Brittany huffs at this and fiddles with the pancakes, flipping them over. She didn't really want to talk about. She wanted to eat pancakes with her friends and pretend that everything was alright. She focuses on making sure she doesn't burn the edges instead of answering the question.

Charlie drains the last of her mug of coffee and pushes her mug forward for more, "Brittany," she says about to point to the mug, when she hears the sniffle from Brittany. She blinks ever so slowly and looks at Quinn, wondering how they should handle it. She doesn't even know what they're talking about she just wanted food.

Quinn takes another sip of her coffee and studies Brittany for a moment, "We could kill her for you." Quinn said after a moment reaching over to awkwardly pat Brittany's hand.

Charlie smiles at the idea of killing someone this early in the morning. "We'd probably get away with it too," Charlie adds as her brain finally kicks into gear and she figures out who they're discussing. "Just say the word Brittany and we'll do it."

Quinn nods solemnly, especially since it meant that Brittany could make _them_ breakfast every morning and get them more of the good stuff. They weren't thrilled that they had to _share_ Brittany at all. There were very few unenhanced people that they could tolerate to be around and Brittany made up the entire list. Unlike everyone else, Brittany wasn't scared of them. She understood them more than any other unenhanced person ever could. So killing someone that Brittany wanted dead was the least they could do.

Brittany smiles at the two of them, they were good friends, and she adore their sense of humor. It took some getting used to but she didn't think they were serious. Her smile fades a bit. "Someone did an interview with Frannie and it said that she was eligible, and I know our relationship is supposed to be a secret because—she doesn't want anyone using her personal life against her in the next election—but it shouldn't matter. It's like she's trying to protect me but—it feels like she's ashamed of me and I know that's not it. Because I'm like super awesome, and I'm like the smartest person in the Citadel," Brittany says and makes a bit of a face.

Quinn stares at Brittany and sips her coffee. She makes a face when she realizes that it's all gone and she looks at it. "Brittany, all you need to do is say the word and we'll take care of her. And then you can move in with us so you don't have to break in all the time." Then they could eat like this whenever they wanted.

Brittany smiled at this and poured them both another cup of coffee. "Don't get me wrong, I love your sister. She just likes to pretend she's tough, she's really sweet and nice to me once we're alone together. And the sex," a wolfish smile appears on Brittany's face. "She makes these adorable little—" Brittany pauses for a moment and flushes when she realizes she's talking to Quinn and Charlie who are both drinking their coffee while watching her. Brittany coughs and looks away as she grabs some plates as she starts to stack the pancakes. "I heard you two finally brought back some refugees!" She said changing the subject.

"You know we're not allowed to discuss military business with you Brittany," Charlie said watching as Brittany pouted, but those were the rules.

Brittany made a face at this, that wasn't what she wanted to hear but she understood they couldn't give details. "Can you at least tell me if you brought back two refugees?" Brittany said trying to at least get something from the two of them. She had heard them say over and over again that they _didn't_ bring back strays—so she was curious as to what the difference was.

Quinn shrugged, she had probably heard it from Frannie which meant that she knew more than she should. Brittany got away with practically everything, it was because she was that smart. Physics, biology, chemistry, there wasn't a field of study that she hadn't looked into. The rest of humanity put her up on a pedestal, and it was very lonely at the top. At least she had Charlie to keep her company. "We did, and you know we can't give you details—but maybe some other time?"

Brittany nods and pushes the stack of pancakes towards the twin watching as they begin to devour the food. She tilts her head a bit watching them. It made sense that most genetically modified humans needed to eat more their metabolisms were faster than most. She wasn't allowed in on the process for genetically modifying humans, though she understood the process entirely. She had tried to explain it to Charlie and Quinn but they didn't care and they didn't quite understand it. All they knew was that they had been 'volunteered' for the process a little after they turned two. In a world where population growth was tightly regulated. The Fabray family had broken the rules in a massive way. It didn't matter that Russell Fabray had been a very successful politician—he had been made an example out of. They weren't supposed to exist, it was either they go through the modification process and live or the entire family be exiled. Russell Fabray had saved his own ass. At least that was the official story from Frannie.

Brittany's about to say something when there's a knock on the door and she waits for one of the twin's to get up and answer the door. But neither one moves instead both focusing on eating as much as they can. Brittany shakes her head and goes to the door and opens it. She smiles for a moment until she remembers that she's supposed to be upset with her. "Go away Frannie, I'm mad at you," she says. It's petulant and she knows it, especially since she knows how much Frannie hates coming to the twin's apartment. How afraid she is of them. Not that her girlfriend would ever admit that to the twins.

Frannie is about to say something when she looks up and notices her sisters in the background—lurking and she shivers. She needed to get Brittany to safety. "Brittany, I _need_ you to come with me—" she begins reaching for her to pull her to safety. She knew the stories, she had _seen_ what they could do, and she didn't approve of Brittany running off to her sisters, they were monsters. Brittany was wonderfully naïve to what they were, and she wanted to keep that innocence. She wanted to make sure that Brittany was safe.

"They're my _friends_ and you can't tell me who I can and can't hang out with Frannie," Brittany said pulling herself back and out of Frannie's reach. She takes a few steps back, because she knows that Frannie would never enter there space. "I'm just eating pancakes with them." She turns and rolls her eyes because Charlie and Quinn are currently finishing off the stack of pancakes.

Frannie makes a face at this, she needs to get Brittany to safety. "Brittany, I didn't know that he was going to print that. I can't control what other people print!"

Brittany crosses her arms over her chest, "You don't honestly expect me to believe that do you? Is that what you want Frannie to start seeing other people?"

Frannie takes a step forward and freezes pulling herself back a bit, she just wants to talk to Brittany to assure her that she loves her. "Of course it isn't Brittany." She says. "That's not what I—"

"Why can't you just take some responsibility? You knew what you were doing Frannie, you have perfectly cultivated your image for _years_." Brittany says, she wasn't stupid and she didn't like it when other people treated her like she was. She knew Frannie better than anyone and she watches as something flickers over Frannie's face.

Frannie sighs and runs a hand through her hair, "Alright, maybe I did it intentionally I just didn't think he was going to lead with _it_!" It seems to be the wrong thing to say as she sees the hurt flash across Brittany's features. "Brittany—I'm _sorry_. It was some stupid polling data, and I listened to it blindly. I don't want to date other people, and I can do another interview that says that I'm off the market," Frannie said shifting form foot to foot.

Getting Frannie to admit that she was wrong was like pulling teeth at times, she needed to be right. Brittany sighs and softens a bit, Frannie was going to have to do more than apologize but she knew how difficult this was for her and she was always a bit crazy in an election year. Not that she had anything to worry about she was far ahead in the polls. "Alright," she says.

"Can we go home now?" Frannie asks her body tensing as she watches one of the monsters get up, she could never tell them apart. Not that she cared to. They weren't her sisters, not anymore.

Brittany nods, "Just let me say goodbye and then you can spend all day making it up to me," Brittany says flashing Frannie a smirk before turning to Charlie and Quinn who were staring at her. She moves to where Quinn is and hugs her tightly. Ignoring the fact that Quinn stiffens for a long moment but finally hugs her back awkwardly. "You're getting better at these, you just need to keep practicing."

"You know if she makes you upset again," Quinn says, loud enough for Frannie to hear. She watches as Frannie straightens herself out and shoots her a glare. She can pretend to be as brave as she wants but she can smell the fear.

Brittany smiles and pats Charlie on the head. "A for effort," she says after finally managing to get Charlie to hug her. "Stop by and I'll see if I have more synthetic bacon to give to you." With that Brittany grabs her jacket and heads to Frannie who pulls her into a frantic hug.

Frannie glares at her sisters who ignore her and immediately pulls Brittany to safety. "You know I don't like it when you spend time with the monsters Brittany," she says when they're out of earshot and harm's way. The threat hadn't been lost on her. She immediately begins to make sure that they haven't done anything to Brittany, checking her carefully.

Brittany rolls her eyes a bit even though she can see that Frannie is legitimately worried and is now checking her over for bite marks. "They're not rabid animals Frannie—they aren't. They're really nice to me." Brittany said shaking her head.

* * *

Sue Sylvester walked through the holding cells, ignoring the general rabble. She had waited long enough and she wanted to check in on the newest prize that the twins had brought back for her. It was a very small consolation prize, she was furious that they _hadn't_ managed to find any information on the missing scouts. Their failure reflected badly on her and what was worse was that Schuester was using this as a reason to start shutting down her program and phasing them out. He claimed that there was no need, but he was also a piss poor commander. Under his command he had lowered standards so nearly anyone could join the army. Resources were tight and he was currently eating into _her_ budget.

So yes she was furious that she didn't have something to wipe in William's face but this current situation presented a whole host of opportunities. She could swing this Santana person as a reason for more funding. If there were people running around with quite possibly illegal genetic modifications then it meant that they still had a purpose. Even her weakest soldier could tear through half of William's forces before being put down. Perhaps some war games were in order to prove a point. Sue waved off the soldiers who had saluted her and opened the door to the holding cell and walked in to see the Santana shackled to the ground. "Barbaric." She said. She couldn't trust Will's forces with anything. Yet she made no move to unshackle Santana who stared at her. There was defiance and anger in her eyes and a fire that Sue liked. It reminded her of a much younger Sue Sylvester. "Can you speak?" Sue asks crossing her arms over her chest. "I have no use for mindless monsters in my army. There are enough of them out there."

Santana is quiet for a moment, she seems to have some power here, she looks to be the right age to be the commander of this outfit and she wonders if she can make a move and force her way out. "I'm not _joining_ your army," Santana says her voice cracking and she licks her dry lips. They hadn't given her any water to drink, they did however piss on her food and laugh as they shoved it through the slot. She hadn't been that hungry, she still had her dignity and she was used to this type of treatment.

Sue smirked, at least she could talk. At least she wasn't a mindless monster. She could work with this, "Of course you're joining _my_ army. You have genetic modifications and while I'm sure you have many talents, and I'm sure that you want to waste your life doing something positively mundane and pointless. I have the ability to draft whoever I want, and I want you. The only other option you have is leaving the city. I will push you off the wall myself if I have to. We can't have an illegal modified human on the loose."

The threat of death was clear and she didn't know enough about this woman to call her out on her bluff. Santana exhaled slowly, "I already said I'm not joining your army, I'm not going to _kill_ for you. I'm done killing for _anyone_ , and I'm not going to be your genetic _mutt_. I already paid my dues and you think I want to stay in a place where they treat me like dirt where they piss in my food and laugh? You've taken _everything_ from me—I was turned into a _freak_ because of this stupid modification program."

Sue Sylvester made a note of the food comment. Heads would roll, for the insult. "My soldiers only receive the best treatment, the best resources, they give their lives to protect this _Citadel_ from threats that normal army can't handle. They get the best housing, they get everything that they need, whenever they need it. You will be fed, you will be clothed and most importantly you will be around people who _understand_ you."

"Yet here I am chained down in a cell, with you threatening to push me off the wall," Santana spat angrily.

Sue rolled her eyes, she threatened to push half of her soldiers off the wall daily. "You are an enemy combatant that managed to get the jump on one of my best soldiers. Which means you have talent and you have potential. I would be a _fool_ not to try and convince you to join my army." Sue said. "Now tell me about your illegal modifications."

"They aren't illegal, I _escaped_. They took everything from me my dignity, my body—I wasn't going to be their slave for the rest of my life. I didn't _ask_ for this and they did it to me anyway," Santana snapped at her.

Sue frowned, which meant if she wasn't illegal she had escaped from another Citadel. That was news and one that she intended to find out more about. "What are you talking about? None of my soldiers are unhappy with their modifications. They _enjoy_ the power, the unrivalled potential that they have. You know the twins that managed to bring you in haven't even begun to reach the ceiling of their potential yet."

"And they didn't care that you destroyed their bodies? They signed up for that?" Santana snaps at Sue who gives her a weird look like she was the crazy one. She wasn't crazy they had taken her and violated her body. She still had memories.

Sue closed the distance between her and Santana and bent down so she was staring directly into her eyes. "What are you talking about?" Sue asked and Santana looked away. Sue rolled her eyes and studied her captive for a moment, she sighed and began to pat her down. She didn't ask she just did, perhaps some scarring of some sort. She wasn't going to strip her naked. That was what the physical was for and she wasn't going to torment the poor girl any further but she quickly found what the problem was and pulled back as Santana jerked backwards. Sue frowned—that wasn't normal. "Is that—?"

Santana frowned, "You think I'd join any group—"

"I don't know what you think you know but whatever they _did_ to you is not standard operating procedure here. Female or male, we modify their genes make them stronger, faster, _better_. We don't care what genitalia you have. The world is burning we don't have the luxury of being _sexist_. Why did they do it to you?"

Santana was quiet still horribly confused. "All women—they did it to all women—if we were captured—it would make it harder to—how do you protect against it? Outside these walls the things they do to you—"

"My soldiers don't _get_ captured, it's as simple as that," Sue interrupted. Sue was quiet contemplating the conundrum, studying the soldier carefully. If she had gone AWOL from another post she couldn't put any of her people in danger. Yet she wasn't going to let Santana just walk out of here. It would be terrible and killing her seemed like a waste. "If you don't fight then _what_ do you do?"

Santana sticks out her chin, she did fight all the time she just didn't want to be forced into it, not again. This wasn't her home and she wasn't going to fight in their petty battles. "I'm a mechanic," Santana said simply. "And I'm not joining your—"

"Everyone has a use, and if you are good with vehicles than use that talent for me. You will have the full protection and all the benefits of being a part of the winning team. Food, water, housing, you can probably get a place with a view of the city. You will have security and you will have a family, a family that understands. Because you think the people out there understand people like us. They think we're monsters and freaks, they spit on us and yet when the 149 come they'll be demanding that we save them." She watches as Santana's eyes widen a bit. Of course she knows how it feels. She had seen it and she had hated it. She loathed it with a passion.

Santana was quiet for a moment and she looked at her chains, she could check it out see if this Sue person was legit. "I can have whatever I want?"

"Within reason," Sue said crossing her arms. "A house, food, because of our increased appetites we don't have rations like the regular people. We'll give you clothes and a job and like I said a family."

Santana exhaled she knew what she wanted, "That girl that was brought in with me—Rachel. Her name is Rachel. She's my _friend_ , she's my only friend and I'll do it if you can keep us _both_ safe." Santana demands her voice strong. She had heard the other soldiers talking. Puck, Mike and Sam. She had a use but as far as they were concerned Rachel was useless.

Sue was quiet for a moment and shrugged. She had thought that Santana was going to ask for something difficult. Her men took care of their own. She had volunteered to be modified so she had the resources to take care of her sister. A sister that society had deemed useless. She respected those that took care of their families. "She's probably in sorting right now, however once she's done I'll have her brought to you. I will say this. She is a healthy able bodied person, she needs to have a use in this society. So help her find one whatever it is, because while I can go to bat for you Santana. She's _unenhanced_. I can only do so much." Santana nods and Sue looks at her studying her carefully. "Do we have a deal? Before you agree, I want you to know Santana that those that cross me don't live very long. So think about this carefully. Because I expect loyalty from all my soldiers Santana and if you don't want to give it then I can dump you outside the city walls and let you fend for yourself."

There was a steel in her voice that made Santana trust the threat. "As long as you keep your end of the deal," Santana says after a moment. If Sue was for real then she'd take her up on her offer but she wasn't going to be blind about it. She was going to make sure that everything here was on the up and up.

"I keep my promises," Sue says immediately and studies Santana it was as good as she was going to get. But she wasn't stupid she was going to keep her eye on her. "Let's get you out of those chains and get you cleaned up and get your identification papers. And yes I'll pull some strings and find that friend of yours as well."

Rachel sighed, immigration into the city had been brutal there were hundreds of people applying to become permanent residents of this citadel. For every one person that was allowed into the city, at least twenty more were rejected. They had separated her from Santana dragging her away like she was some kind of animal. She had made up her mind that she was going to focus on finding Santana and then maybe they could leave. She didn't know to where but she just wanted to leave. She looked up at the new number that flashed on the screen and looked at the number that she had been given and let out a sigh of relief. She had been sitting there for what felt like hours. She moved to the open window immediately, stepping over people. "Hello, I was looking for my friend she was—"

"Name?"

Rachel blinked at the man who was giving her a bored look, "Her name was—"

"Not her name _yours_."

Rachel stared, his tone had been unnecessarily rude and she wondered if it was simply the Citadel. She had never seen so many people in one place, but it seemed that everyone had their own problems. She hadn't found even one person to talk to the entire time she had been here. She missed Santana and if becoming a citizen was what it took to find her so they could escape then so be it. "My name is Rachel Berry." She waited until he finished typing it in to the computer. "I don't know if you could help me find my friend Santana—we were separated—"

"How did you get here?" He interrupted, he had things to do and this shitty job didn't offer much upward mobility but it could be worse. He could be on the other side begging to leech resources that they didn't have.

"I was brought here, mostly against my will. But that's only because your soldiers, who could use a crash course in manners, _abducted_ my friend." Rachel said.

"Do you know which unit?" he asked, being brought in by soldiers generally meant that they saw that you could be of use.

Rachel frowned slightly, "No—but there was five of them and they were genetically modified. Not of all of them were rude."

"I'm sorry if you don't know the name of the squad that brought you in—"

"They didn't tell me anything! All I know is that there was five of them and two of them were twins. Blonde hair—everyone else seemed _okay_." Rachel thinks, she's tired and she's hungry, but she wracks her brain. Trying to remember if they told her their squad name. She had been more concerned about the fact that they had been dragging Santana away. "I can't remember their squad name but I do remember some of their names if that helps?"

"I'm sorry ma'am—"

"Quinn—Charlie. I think they called one Puck—which seems like a ridiculous name, then there was Mike and Sam!" The man's mouth dropped and Rachel rubbed her arm. "I really didn't catch their squad name, all I know is they took my friend and I really just want to find her."

He stared, there was only one set of genetically modified twins that he knew of and he couldn't believe it for a second. "One moment please," he said turning back to his computer screen. He had heard that they had brought two people back but he had thought that was shit. He brought up the intake forms from the previous day and his eyes widened slightly. She wasn't lying. Right under the Argon Squadron's heading were two names and Mike Chang's signature. Quinn Fabray's signature was also there and so was Charlie's vouching for them. It was standard protocol. He coughed and turned back to Rachel. "What's your use?" Rachel gave him a blank look. "What's your _job_?" he repeats.

"I—don't know," Rachel admits after a moment. She had never had a job before—well that wasn't true. Her last job had required her laying on her back and convincing Finn that he was some god in bed. Before that she had simply helped the caravan and moved from place to place. "I've never had a job before she admits to the man who frowns at her.

"Well what did—Quinn see you do that convinced her to bring you into the city?" He asked checking to make sure, it was that twin that had signed in for her.

Rachel thinks back, Quinn had basically ignored her existence until she was dropped off with the other members of her squadron with Santana. Quinn had then proceeded to drive off with her twin. "I—shot someone." Rachel said quietly.

The man studied Rachel for a moment and nodded, "She must have thought you would find your use in the army." It made sense. "I'll put you into the system and we can put you in one of the half-way houses until a recruiter comes to you. You'll probably be put through basic training, and they'll figure out the housing situation and the rations. You must have really done something amazing to impress the Wonder Twins." He beamed at her.

Rachel wanted to point out that she had promptly thrown up in the corner, and she had fired an empty gun at Quinn when her back was turned. She had just done what she needed to do to survive, but if it got her through the front door then she was going to go with it. "My friend Santana?" Rachel asked for the millionth time. But this time she gets a smile from him. It's odd that he's now bending over his back to help her.

"It says that she's still in holding—look if you talk to the recruiter when they come talk to you, I'm sure they'll have more information for you, they can look into it." It was the best he could do. The systems weren't updated in real time, and if she was in a holding cell then he didn't know what that meant. She could be a criminal or something. He looks at Rachel who doesn't quite look pleased but she nods and he smiles and leans in. "What were they like? Are they like what we see in the vids?" He had heard they were the biggest monsters in that particular branch of the army and he was glad that they were out there keeping him safe.

Rachel blinks at him, "Who?"

"The Wonder Twins!"

Rachel stared at him wondering what his weird obsession was with the twins was and she didn't know how to break it to him that they weren't the nicest people she had ever met. "They killed everyone in the caravan—" His eyes widened and Rachel shrugged. "Don't feel sorry for them, they were slavers. They deserved what they got. It was over quickly."

The man shivers, he can hear the almost haunted tone in Rachel's voice and he nods. They were enhanced monsters and he was extremely glad that they were on their side. He pauses for a moment, "Look it's going to take some time for me to get your papers and your identification card ready, so just check in with me a bit late and I'll see if there's any news on your friend. I'll even call someone if I have to."

Rachel smiles gratefully, " _Thank you_ ," she says meaning it. She had no idea what his fascination was with Quinn and Charlie were, but if name dropping them helped her get what she need then she'd make a use of it in the future.

Charlie's back slammed against the wall, knocking the air out of her lungs. She had wanted to try that spinning kick that Santana had done to her. But it was flashy and telegraphed her moves far too much. No wonder Quinn had caught her. She barely had time to recover as Quinn's foot barely missed her head as she scrambled to the side, just moving out the way enough to slam her foot into Quinn's knee. Her position was wrong and all she managed to was get Quinn to take a few steps back as she scrambled to her feet.

* * *

Quinn frowned ever so slightly, this was easier than normal and Charlie had promised to give her a run for a money. She had actually gotten to flex her muscle while she had been stuck on clean up duty with the rabble. "If you're not going to fight me seriously then why are we even doing this?" Quinn asked. She moved quickly closing the gap and tried to punch her sister in the face again but this time Charlie seemed to be ready and she ended up on her back. Almost immediately Quinn rolled out of the incoming kick, her sister was oddly predictable and once you knew what to expect—pain exploded across her face as she moved to get up. Charlie's foot slamming across her cheek bone. The blow sent her careening into the mat. She hadn't even seen it coming she had thought that Charlie was going to go for her usual stomp.

"Is that it?" Charlie taunted her sister watching her slowly get to her feet. "Santana put up more of a—" Charlie's words are cut off as Quinn lunges again. This time body is much lower and Charlie feels herself falling backwards, her back slamming against the mat as Quinn manages to take her down.

It's a matter of speed and the moment that Charlie's stunned is when Quinn makes her move sliding her body on top of Charlie's and letting loose as Charlie moves to guard her face. She rains down blows not stopping, most of her punches slam against Charlie's forearms but some of the blows rain down lighting Charlie up. The fight's hers until her twin manages to finally get position her one hand shooting out and grabbing the front of her shirt. Quinn pitches forward as Charlie's head shoots up slamming against hers in a vicious head-butt that leaves her feeling dazed.

Charlie nearly falls back, that had been stupid but she manages to throw Quinn of her sending crashing face first into the floor. Quinn hadn't been holding back any of her strength and her arms feel heavy, but she moves anyway, wanting to finish their fight, they usually went until one of them couldn't stand or tapped out but she feels arms encircle around her waist pulling her back as she struggles. "Sam _let me go!_ " Charlie snaps at him, recognizing his scent immediately. "I _had her_."

"No." Sam said simply. Maybe Charlie did have her but the last time they had fought it had taken out half the weight room, and they had nearly killed the other, not intentionally because neither one would simply quit. Sue had blown a gasket and the entire team had been punished.

Quinn sat up and rubbed her forehead angrily wondering if she could get away with attacking Charlie while she was distracted. Their fights never had any rules, apart from always defend yourself. She rotated her body getting ready to strike when she feels a hand placed on her shoulder and she frowns and looks at Mike. "Oh _come on!_ "

"If you two _want_ to fight, save it for Combustion." Mike said calmly, trying to get them to reign it in. Combustion was the only club that served their section of the military, they weren't allowed in all the other clubs. Sure there were a few normal people who attempted to party with them, but it was mostly genetically modified being clientele. Which made sense because _anything and everything_ went at Combustion. Drinking and fighting were so commonplace, but so was the sex, you could smell it in the room. He couldn't count how many times he had caught a member of his squad having sex just out there and in the open for anyone to see. Puck was the worst offender followed closely by Quinn, Charlie came in third though she was mostly looking to blow off steam through fighting and drinking. No one cared. Fighting, drinking and fucking, it's how they blew off steam.

Quinn paused, going to Combustion meant that they were on leave and they could properly blow off some steam before Sue decided to send them on some stupid mission again. She smirked, that meant that she would finally be able to blow off some steam. "Fine we'll save it for Combustion," she said standing up. "So what are we supposed to do _until_ then?"

"Our meeting with Sue was cancelled so why don't we just meet up at Combustion later?" Mike suggests. They could train all day but that would mean that Charlie and Quinn would get bored with how easy it was. And when they got bored things got destroyed much to Sue's annoyance.

Quinn made a face, what were they supposed to do until then? She looked over at Charlie who had the same expression but then her twin grins. "Brittany did bring over some of that potent mix that she's been working on," Charlie said thinking of the six bottles of clear liquid that Brittany had left at their place.

Quinn smirked, well no one said that they couldn't start the party early.


	3. Chapter 3

"Impressive isn't it?" Sue said looking at Santana, crossing her legs. It had been amusing to see how Santana had reacted to the bustling city. History said that the major cities all around the world had been hit first, decimating the human population. New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Tokyo, places all over the world where people had gathered. But humanity was tough and New York had been rebuilt to some degree. There were still some buildings that were decrepit and needed to be torn down but overall New York was still a jewel surrounded by ruins.

Santana chose not to answer Sue, still not trusting the slightly unhinged woman in front of her. But she silently had to admit that it _was_ impressive. She had never seen so many people in one place and it was far bigger than the tiny Citadel that she had grown up in. It was also far more advanced, Sue had pointed out the Citadel's various public transportation, and there were many cars on the road, which meant that she'd always have something to do—if she chose to stay. Santana flicked her eyes to Sue, there was still the matter of everything that she'd been promised and as far as she could see they were in far too nice of an area for this to be her new home. "Where are you taking me?"

Sue studied Santana carefully taking in the distrust easily, she understood. Santana didn't know her, she didn't know what she was about. She certainly had no reason to _trust her_ especially not with the betrayal that she had known. "I said I was taking you to your new living quarters and that's exactly what I'm doing." Unfortunately for Santana the apartment complexes that she had been given were completely full. She had requested for some more space so they could expand, but that had been denied. Which meant that sacrifices needed to be made. She wasn't personally in the business of sacrificing her own comfort. She looked out the window once the car stopped and she nodded at her personal driver. "We're here." The door was opened for her and she walked out not bothering to spare another glance at Santana who stumbled out of the car and moved to catch up with her. "Normally someone in your position would just go straight to the barracks but currently the barracks are at capacity. You're just lucky that I know where there are several two bedroom units that aren't being used and probably won't be used in the near future."

Santana frowned as they entered the building, the building was just as nice on the inside as it was on the outside. It even had a working elevator. She tried to ignore the unenhanced people that were glancing over at the two of them while pretending to go about their business. Their stares were filled with curiosity, fear, and some thinly-veiled jealousy. She didn't want to have to deal with the whispers and the stares and the name calling as she went about her business. "So you're putting me with the unenhanced?" Santana mutters as the elevators close and Sue presses a button to the thirteenth floor.

"Of course not, they'd never stay. I imagine you moving into this building will raise some eyebrows, but resources are limited and if the council won't give me what I need I'll just have to create a situation where they have no choice _but_ to give me the resources I require." Sue looked at Santana who bristled at the idea of being used. Sue rolled her eyes, it was ungrateful. Santana was getting a place with a view and a relatively quiet floor because all the unenhanced people had moved out the moment that the twin's had moved in. Which meant there were a few units that simply weren't being used. There was some resentment of course from some of the soldiers, but she had simply pointed out that if they had an issue with it then they could always take it up with the twins. No one had ever taken it up with the twins.

Santana stops after she steps out of the elevator choosing not to follow Sue any further. "I'm not going to be your pawn."

Sue stopped and looked at Santana, "Of course you're going to be my pawn. Because the alternative is being someone else's pawn. But perhaps I'm reading this wrong. Maybe you _enjoyed_ working for that slaver. You enjoyed being belittled by someone who you knew was weaker than you, but for some strange reason you simply didn't snap his neck and take over. You didn't _protect_ your friend then. The alternative is you go back to that. You peddling your mechanical services to whoever could keep you safe from whoever you're running from while your friend all but whored herself out for your protection. If you want to go back to that, and whatever silly idea of freedom you have. You are free to pack your things and get out of _my city_. Or you can stay and enjoy the benefits of being _my pawn_."

There it was the steel in Sue's voice that made Santana hesitate, she could practically feel the danger radiating off her. It didn't help her mood that she was right. What were they going to do once they made it past the walls? Food was scarce, and it was dangerous, she couldn't protect Rachel from the monsters outside and she doubted that Sue would just _hand_ them weapons to defend themselves. There had to be another way and she just couldn't think of one right now. "I don't mind fixing your cars, but I'm not going to fight for this place."

Sue studied Santana for a moment before turning around and walking away. Santana wouldn't fight _yet_ , but she would. The Citadel wasn't perfect, but it was paradise compared to the nightmare that was the outside world. She stopped in front of one the apartments and knocked on the door briskly. It takes a moment before the door opens and Sue crinkles her nose in disgust at the stench of very strong alcohol and the sloppy salute that Charlie and Quinn were giving her. Disgraceful." She pauses for a moment and then her frown deepens. "Aren't you two supposed to be on duty?" She questions.

Charlie immediately starts snickering. "You said _duty_."

Quinn frowns and turns to her twin and smacks her upside the head _hard_. "Pay _attention!_ " She slurs angrily. "She might give us someone to _kill_ ," Quinn says and turns back to Sue giving her another sloppy salute. Trying to ignore Charlie's laughter. Her shoulder's and hands sag a bit and when she sees Santana staring at the two of them. She squints a bit and points to her. "Didn't we kill you?"

Santana stared at Quinn for a long moment and then turned to Charlie who was still snickering up a storm and she gritted her teeth. This was even more humiliating than she thought it would be. How could she _lose_ to these two _idiots_? At this point she wishes that they did kill her. "No. You didn't."

"I can fix that," Charlie says stumbling forward, even with her clear drunkenness, her speed is still relatively intact and her hand shoots out to grab Santana only to have her hand stopped by Sue Sylvester. Charlie turns to look at Sue the drunken smile still on her face.

Sue didn't return the smile instead she twisted Charlie's wrist, ignoring the sound of bones cracking as she applied pressure and forced Charlie onto her knees. She dodged Quinn's immediate clumsy attack. Her left arm rotated out slamming into Quinn's face. There was a dull crunch and she knew that she had broken Quinn's nose. " _Sloppy_." She criticized. She drops Charlie's wrist and turns around. "I don't have time to deal with the two of you so _stay_ out of my way." Sue said shaking her head in disgust. She needed to make it clear to _everyone_ that drinking was only to take place at Combustion. She flicked her eyes to Santana, "Let's go get you settled in your new apartment."

Santana stared, Charlie had seemed _invincible_ when she had faced her. She had taken some of her best attacks and had kept coming but this had been quick and vicious. She shivered as Sue passed her, if she had any idea of attempting to betray this woman it flew right out of her head. Santana studied the twins for a moment, Quinn was on the ground clutching her nose and Charlie was holding her wrist and she turned only to realize that Sue had opened the door to the apartment across the hall from the twins. "You've got to be _shitting me_." Santana says immediately. There were at least ten empty units and Sue was putting her across the hall from idiots.

"Beggars can't be choosy," Sue said not sparing a glance at Santana, "I'm sure the view is quite lovely."

"You can't put me near them," Santana says pointing at the twins who were slowly recovering. They had just tried to kill her.

"They'll be sober in about half an hour or so, and I'm sure they'll be positively _mortified_ at their behavior." Sue drawls as she hands Santana two sets of keys. She turns to walk away, this is more than she's done for any other recruit. Though to be fair most of other new recruits were children.

Santana stares at the keys and frowns, "Wait—what about my friend Rachel. You said you'd find her!" Sue couldn't just leave her here with the two lunatics.

"Once we locate her, we'll make sure that she finds you." Sue said with a shrug. "Don't worry I'll put a rush on it."

"You can't just leave me here. I don't know anything about this city, I don't know where to check in for work or how to get my uniforms or _anything_." Santana said trying again, taking a step towards Sue.

Sue turns and gives Santana a huge smile, "I suggest you start acclimatizing now. Make some friends, meet your new family and get to know them." Sue said jutting her thumb towards the twins. "Now excuse me, I have an army to run and I don't have time to babysit the new grunts." With that she turned and walked away, leaving Santana standing there her mouth hanging open.

* * *

The halfway house was aptly named, it was half-way to a house and that was being very generous. Even though she had basically lived as a nomad for her entire life and clean living wasn't always possible. But this—this was bad. She hadn't even wanted to enter the building, yet people were moving into it like it was nothing. It didn't even have a door, well it did but it was practically falling off its hinges and was barely being held up by what looked to be very old duct-tape. It wasn't just this building it was the entire neighborhood which was just as run down and beaten in as this place.

"Rachel Berry?" Rachel looked up at the man who had a clipboard in her his hands. "Room 301."

Rachel froze for a moment and looked at the building, other people had just walked in when they were called. How could a city that looked so big, and clean allow any of its citizens to live like this? Rachel swallowed and took a step into the house nearly jumping back when a gigantic cockroach skittered by. There were small blackish brown pellets everywhere and she realized quickly that the place was probably infested with rats. She wasn't spoiled by any means but she couldn't do it. She couldn't sleep here—she couldn't even spend a moment in the house and she moved to the side allowing a couple to enter. She scrambles outside and takes in a breath of fresh air but she can't get the smell of mold, urine and shit out from her nose. She nearly wretches and looks at one of the women who was waiting for her name to be called. She looks excited, and relieved. "How?" Rachel asks and the woman turns to her.

The woman frowns and shakes her head at Rachel's ungratefulness, "It's just a few days and then we'll get everything we need from the government. Healthcare, food, a house with running water and we'll be protected. I've been trying for years to get in. To be allowed to live here, and they finally let me in. I'll even have a job."

Rachel stares at the woman and then back at the halfway house, she isn't even going to risk it. It's not worth it and if this is how they're treating her, she can only imagine how they're treating Santana. They need to get out of here immediately, she doesn't know what the plan is but they just need to leave. No one had heard anything, and it seemed that Santana was still in some sort of purgatory where no one quite knew where she was. None of the regular citizens knew a thing, even though she had name dropped the twins name the entire way. People had rushed to do her bidding, but they couldn't find anything. It was disconcerting and she needed to go straight to the source. She needed to find the Argon squad and demand answers from them. The only problem with that plan is that she didn't know where to find them. The Citadel was _massive_ and she couldn't just go door to door until she happened to find them. She watched the man who had called her name finish up and approached him slowly, putting on a huge smile.

"No you can't get another room. This isn't a hotel." The man said immediately, he knew that look and he couldn't be bothered to deal with it. These refugees were _lucky_ that they had even managed to get in.

Rachel didn't falter, she needed to get what she wanted and she needed to be pointed in the right direction. "No, I just have some friends in the city—and I was wondering how I would go about meeting up with them. You may know them, Charlie and Quinn? The modded twins? I think they'd be very disappointed if they didn't get to see me tonight." Rachel added.

The man flicked his eyes to her, "What will a little thing like you be doing around those monsters?" he asks her bluntly.

Rachel pauses nearly everyone else had been tripping all over themselves to help her and this guy was putting a damper on things. "They rescued me and brought me here and I wanted to say thank you again. Do you know where I could find them—or any other member of the team? Puck—Mike or Sam?" Rachel asked pressing.

The man paused and looked her over again, "You? You're the girl that impressed those big bad monsters? That shot someone?" He asked flabbergasted.

Rachel nods, not quite knowing what to say. She didn't want to think about it, or talk about it. She wanted to put Finn and that life—what she was behind her. She wasn't going to be anyone's whore ever again. "Do you know where I could find them?" she repeats again.

The man frowned, the silly girl didn't even know what she was asking. "Look all I know is that they don't live in the barracks anymore—and it's not like I have their address just lying around. I'm _grateful_ that they protect the Citadel and all but they're dangerous plain and simple, and you don't want to go messing around with those genetically modified freaks."

Rachel bit her tongue hard enough to draw blood, she needed information from him and she just couldn't lose her temper. "Well, they were very kind and professional with me," Rachel said lying through her teeth and I just wanted to say thank you. If you could just tell me where they like to hang out maybe someone will point me in the right direction."

"I am not sending you to _Combustion_. I don't want your _death_ on my hands. That place is a den of debauchery, and unless you're one of _those_ girls that likes to be _fucked_ by those monsters, you'd best stay away. Thank god those freaks are sterile." He said shaking his head and walking away from Rachel. He didn't want anything else to do with her.

Rachel smiled even though he hadn't wanted to help her, she now had a lead. Combustion, whatever that was. Now she just needed to find a way to _get_ there and hope that she found someone who could point her in the right direction, or maybe if she was lucky she'd run into those damn twins again.

* * *

Charlie grumbles as she tries to get a good grip on Quinn's chin so she could tilt her face up. "Will you stay still Quinn, I think I need to break it again. I don't want to be listening to you all night long," Charlie complains and reaches for Quinn's nose.

Quinn smacks Charlie's hand away. "You're going to have to listen to me all night long anyway." Quinn said smirking at Charlie. "I can do it myself just worry about your wrist." Quinn said pointing at the bandaged up wrist.

Charlie looked at her wrist holding it up. "Well, maybe if I handicap myself I'll get a good challenge tonight," Charlie said. Her wrist would heal in a few days. She's quiet for a few moments watching and listening as Quinn fixes her nose.

" _Fuck_." Quinn says, pain is dulled for them, that doesn't mean that she doesn't feel it. Normally she doesn't feel it at all until the adrenaline is cleared out of her system. "Fuck Sue and her fucking crazy- ass _bullshit_. One of these days I'm going to _fucking kill her_."

Charlie smirks at this but it fades after a moment as she remembers the encounter. Her face twists in irritation because she remembers everything, including the fact that there was a witness of them getting their asses handed to them. "What are we going to do about our new neighbor? I think Sue's trying to punish us for something."

Quinn tilts her face to the door, the bruising on her face already going down. If this was one of Sue's punishments then they couldn't just make their problem disappear. She shrugs and looks at Charlie. "It doesn't matter. She'll move away eventually." It's simply a matter of time. Speaking of time, Quinn glances at the clock, "It's about time we start getting ready before the rest of the squad shows up. You know how Puck gets when we're late to the party."

"The same way you get when you realize that all the pretty ones are taken," Charlie says with a smirk. She laughs when Quinn scowls at her and she moves away from her sister. "I'll be getting ready." Charlie says with a wave of her hand.

Quinn watched her twin leave her room before she shrugged and started to get ready herself. It had only been two weeks and it already felt like she had just survived a drought. It wasn't even her fault, they were _enhanced_ beings and her libido had increased accordingly, just like her strength and endurance. Combustion was the only place where she could find willing partners, and she was eternally grateful that Charlie enjoyed blowing off steam by fighting and drinking most of the time. Quinn pulls on a clean shirt and slips on some dark form fitting jeans, when there was a pounding at the door.

That was the third time someone had knocked on their door today and Quinn's lips twisted into a frown. There was a very small list of people she personally _liked_ spending time with. Excluding Charlie, Brittany was the only name on that list. Then there were people who she tolerated—mostly because she had to. Like all her other lists, it was very short, and consisted of the names of the rest of her squad. Quinn opened the door and looked at Sam, Puck and Mike who were all giving her this weird smile, and they were standing awfully close to one another blocking her view of the hallway.

Mike decided to speak up, it was his job as the leader and truthfully he felt a bit sorry for Santana. They had found her downstairs in the lobby trying to talk to the unenhanced people who were giving her wide berth when they showed up. She was one of them or at least a member in the same army which made her like family and they protected their own. Well, Charlie and Quinn just did their own thing most of the time but generally they protected their own. "Look, I know you guys aren't _big_ on change—"

The list of who the people she could tolerate was quickly dwindling, because this didn't sound good. It didn't sound like it was something she wanted to be a part of. "What happened to Combustion?" Quinn demanded immediately.

"You'd think I'd be here smiling if anything happened to that place?" Puck asked making a face. He'd be just as devastated as Quinn would be and he'd be smart enough to avoid the twins entirely if that ever happened. They'd go _ballistic_ , if anything happened to Combustion. It was the only place where they could unwind without getting into too much trouble.

Quinn frowns, "Then what changed that I won't like?"

Sam glances at the other two members of the squad and decides that he was going to be the one to just be open up and deal with the fallout. He simply takes a step backwards and juts a thumb to Santana who has a suspicious look on her face. He couldn't really blame her suspicions, he hadn't trusted them either. But they had saved his ass several times. Though he wasn't completely sure if they had saved him intentionally, or whether saving him was merely an unintended consequence of their actions. He tried not to think and debate the issue to hard. "Santana's your new neighbor, and she doesn't know anything about the city. So _we're_ going to help her out."

Quinn blinked slowly and looked at Santana and then turned to Sam. "Why?"

"Because she's _one of us_. You're looking at the newest recruit. She's our new mechanic and since we brought her in the least we could do is help get used to the place." Sam explained slowly to Quinn, he noticed the flash of annoyance but ignored it.

Puck nods and throws an arm around Santana, "She's _family_ Quinn which means that you can't try and kill her anymore."

Quinn looked at Puck, if she wanted someone dead there was very little anyone could do to stop her, and he knew that. She didn't _try_ to kill anyone, she just did. She rarely even stopped to think about it. "Charlie's the one that brought her in. Charlie's the one you're going to need convince to not kill her. So long as she stays out of my way then we won't have a problem." Quinn said dismissively.

Mike smiled at this it was as good a promise as they were going to get at least from Quinn, which meant that they only had to deal with Charlie. He turns to Santana who still doesn't quite trust them in general and is trying to get away from Puck. "Look, I know you don't want to come to Combustion with us, but you're _one_ of us and it's an excellent place to blow off some steam. We'll help you look for your friend whenever we wake up in the morning."

Puck smiled at her and patted her on the back hard causing her to stumble forward, "That's the spirit. You'll love it there. Men. Women, whatever your poison is you'll find it. Whatever you're into all happens at Combustion."

Quinn studies her for a moment and then tilts her head to look at Charlie who has finally finished getting ready. "You know if all the women are taken by the time we get there I will kick your ass," she threatens.

Charlie rolls her eyes, "You'll _try_ ," Charlie said flicking her eyes to the rest of the squad, her hazel eyes finally resting on Santana.

Santana stiffens ever so slightly and juts her chin out defiantly she isn't going to be afraid of these two clowns. She had just seen them get their asses handed to them and she knew that if she just focused a bit she could probably take them on. Charlie tilts her head curiosity flashing through her features, it disappears when she takes a step forward and nearly immediately, the rest of the Argon squad closes rank protecting her.

"Charlie—you're not allowed to kill her," Mike said stepping in front of Charlie who had stopped and was looking at them like she was having an internal debate whether she could get away with going through them. "She's part of the army which means she's one of us."

"Whatever," Charlie says dismissively. Sue had already beat it into her that Santana was _not_ someone she had permission to kill. She wasn't even that interested in killing her.

"What happened to your wrist?" Puck asked pointing to it. He knew better than to touch them without their permission. He had slapped Quinn's ass once when they were teenagers. He had spent nearly three weeks in the infirmary. Sue had needed to save his ass.

Charlie looked at the bandaged wrist and glanced at Quinn and then stared at Santana, daring her to contradict her. "We thought it'd give me more of a challenge if I was handicapped. Since you won't let me fight the only person who gives me a challenge." She turned to Sam narrowing her eyes at him. She was watching Santana out of the corner of her eye, but apart from the slight frown Santana didn't say a word.

Sam sighed feeling like he needed to explain why they weren't allowed to fight each other again. "You do realize that whenever you two act out—Sue punishes us right?"

Quinn rolled her eyes, they weren't stupid. She hated when people treated them like they were idiots, like they didn't know what was going on around them. They were very much aware that Sue punished Mike and the others when they got a little out of hand. They had just stopped caring a long time ago. "Can we _go_ now?"

* * *

Russell Fabray crossed his legs as he looked at Sue Sylvester who had just finished giving her report a frown on his face. He looked around at the rest of the council, they were the ones that made all the decisions that the citizens shouldn't be burdened with. They're most important job was resource allotment. It had taken him a lot of wheeling and dealing to get his position back for people to forget about his little screw up years ago, but now he was back and this was where he belonged and he had learned his lesson. "So what you're saying Sue, is that a squad of your best men didn't find the missing scouts. And you're still here insisting that you need more resources?"

Sue kept her head held high, "There wasn't even a trail for my men to follow, and it was like they never even left to begin with. There was no sign that they had even scouted the areas that they said they were supposed to have scouted. They are _not_ miracle workers. And _yes_ we need more resources—"

Figgins held his hand up, silencing her. "Sue, your men are already allotted the most resources, and yet they _aren't_ producing the required results. The world is _changing_. There hasn't been a sighting of the 149 in decades. We've learned that with enough unenhanced manpower we can take out the abominations that are roaming on the outside. It's why we shut down the modification process entirely. There isn't a need right now."

"I've said for _years_ that decision was a _terrible_ mistake," Sue snapped.

Frannie sighed and leaned back in her chair, "Charlie and Quinn were the last successful batch, and that new procedure was experimental in nature. Every attempt after them was a _failure_. In fact while they might have lived I don't see how this little experiment _wasn't_ just another failure. They are little more than rabid animals and they are a threat to the population at large. You know that we only put up with them because they make excellent propaganda. When was the last time they actually did anything that an unenhanced person couldn't do?"

Sue glanced at the smug look on Will's face and crossed her arms, "You really want to entrust your protection to the man who is basically letting anyone and everyone into the army? He's lowered standards so that most people fit the criteria. His branch is so _mismanaged_ , that I don't even think I need a quarter of my men to completely annihilate his side. We're _Special Forces_."

"You still haven't answered my question." Frannie said in a bored tone. "What can they do that enough unenhanced people couldn't do?"

Sue was quiet for a moment, "Even if you want to make an argument that we aren't in any danger from the 149 or any of the monsters that roam the land. What about the other Citadel's that have genetically modified soldiers? I gave you my report, I _told you_ about the modded soldier we found out there. She's already confirmed that other Citadel's are still modifying, are still tinkering. You know what Will's men couldn't do? Go against an opposing military forces who has genetically modified forces."

William Schuester stood up, "You aren't _gods_ Sue. The people _fear_ your kind—it's been years. The program was stopped because it _was_ an abomination! My men are beloved by the people because they're there when things go wrong and where are your men? Living it up in Combustion. I doubt they are even the threat that you make them out to be. Maybe once upon a time they were something to be feared but now? Now they're just jokes."

Holly Holiday held her hand up, "Why don't we simply put it to the test?" Holly suggests. "War games. I'm sure it'll build moral in the city as well, to get behind the Citadel's two protectors."

"I outnumber Sue's forces about thirty to one," Will said crossing his arms over his chest. "It wouldn't be a fair contest."

"You outnumber my forces thirty-five to one," Sue said calmly. She knew how to play the game and she shot a thankful look at Holly, this had gone exactly the way she wanted. "You're right it's not fair. How about I give you a handicap and you only take on half of my forces?" She smirked when Will turned a very interesting shade of red and purple.

Frannie sighed and rolled her eyes, "It's a gigantic waste of resources and the logistics alone—" she begins someone needed to have keep this under control. Maybe in the glory days of humanity showing off your military might was intelligent but now it just seemed like a gigantic waste of time.

"Perhaps, but maybe making it a holiday and allowing people to relax and _watch_ and cheer. The world loves a good underdog story." Bryan Ryan said speaking up. "It's good for moral and for as much as we spend our time squabbling over resources, we currently have a surplus of most things _except_ space. The people could enjoy rooting for the underdog."

Frannie rolled her eyes and looked to her father who seemed to be considering it. "I still think—"

"No one cares what you think Frannie, you are still the _junior_ member of this council and it's an _election year_. You might not even be here in a few weeks." Russell said his tone cold and unfeeling. He didn't even bother to look at Frannie who turned a bright red in shame and looked away. "I think it's an excellent idea and Sue if you're so sure about the prowess of your troops, then prove it. Pit exactly half your troops against Will's troops. If you can indeed win, you'll get the resources you require."

Will turned to Russell sharply. "Just like that?" He snaps at him.

"Everyone has a use William, and if they can prove that they are useful—then I see no reason why we shouldn't give Sue what she wants. Besides you have the numbers advantage. Even with their modifications they are still just humans." Russell said dismissively.

Sue eyed Will and Russell for a moment, for the past few months they had been getting closer and it made her suspicious. William was terrible when it came to political machinations but lately he was gaining more and more support with the council. She studied them for a moment before deciding to leave it alone, she had what she wanted and she needed to pick her best and brightest to make sure she made a devastating point. She'd also have to make sure that Charlie and Quinn didn't kill anyone. "Well I've got to prepare my troops." Sue said with a shrug. "I'm sure you can send me the details of whatever game you want to play."

Russell was quiet watching as Sue walked out of the council room. Giving her what she wanted was a sure fire to play Sue Sylvester, the last thing he wanted was her digging for dirt to use to get her way. He waited until the council meeting was over before he finally spoke up. "Will, if you have a moment?" Russell said standing up. He ignored the curious look that he was received from a few of the council members.

"Father I—" Frannie began, she still thought it was a silly idea and maybe if she just explained the position to her father he'd understand. She was on his side, she wanted to get rid of the modded soldiers just as much as he did.

"Frannie, the adults are talking. Don't you have a campaign to run?" Russell said dismissively as Will approached him. He didn't have time for her asinine questions. He leaves Frannie standing there with that humiliated expression on her face and walks with Will. "It's for the best William, you know how Sue gets when she wants something. The last thing we need is for her to find out about our side project accidentally."

Will made a face, "Still, the disrespect—"

Russell patted Will's shoulder. "If you win it'll shut her up, and during the war games we can take the time to move our project to an even more secure location. How is it going?"

Will smiled proudly, "Right now, the conversion process is going quite well, it won't be long until we're ready to unveil them. Do you truly believe it'll put an end to the modification program?"

Russell smiled at Will's eagerness, "Of course. With this plan in place we'll be able to put a stop to giving up our children to become monsters, and we'll be able to protect this city. Protect our children and expand, allow more people into this city and protect more and more people. Opening up trade between other Citadel's and combining resources. We could create a utopia, usher in a new _golden age_. Our names will be in the history books as the two men who dared to dream." Russell smiled as William Schuester ate it up. Project Alpha-Delta-Iota, was going to change the world.

* * *

Rachel exhaled as she finally arrived at Combustion, she could feel the pulsating music and the loud yelling from inside and she frowned ever so slightly. Every person she had talked to, every person who had done favors for her thinking she was some personal friend to the twin's had warned her about this place. She had heard it called nearly every name in the book. It was a place filled with debauchery, someone who still believed in the old religions had called it a den of sin. She had gotten strange looks from everyone. The looks that made her feel like she was still some kind of whore. But they didn't know about her past and she didn't quite understand why going to this place was such a bad idea. She exhaled and took a step towards the building when a body crashed through the front doors, which all but exploded. Splinters of wood flew everywhere and Rachel hit the ground immediately. Well, that answered that question. Rachel slowly stood up and looked at the modded person who tried to get up but merely slumped back down on the ground gasping for air. Rachel bit the inside of her lip and moved towards him. "Um hello," she said greeting him with a small wave. Blue eyes found hers and Rachel rubbed her arm nervously. "I'm looking for the twins." She was rewarded with him holding up his hand and pointing towards combustion, where there was loud cheering. Rachel studied the ruined entrance and for a moment wondered if she had lost her mind. The answer to that question was most certainly a _yes_. But she needed to find Santana and get the hell out of here. Steeling her nerves Rachel held her head high and walked through the ruined doorway of Combustion.

Santana frowned as she leaned against the wall crossing her arms, when Puck had said that anything went at Combustion, he had been very literal, and she was torn between being absolutely disgusted and feeling oddly at home. Though the disgust could be from seeing Puckerman's hairy ass. He currently had some poor girl who had been all over him, pressed against a wall his hips hammering away. No one was paying him any mind, in fact everyone seemed to be doing their own thing. Mike and Sam were drinking with some other soldiers who they had introduced her to, while Charlie was kicking people's ass with one hand. Well that's what she had been doing until her fun was cut short when she had thrown someone out through the front doors. After that no one seemed to want to fight her again, which meant that her fun for the night seemed to be over. Santana's eyes darted to find Quinn who was currently in the middle of entertaining two women.

Santana sighed inwardly, it was weird being around so many modified people again. People had been relatively nice and open to her. No one cared that she wasn't _one_ of them. That she hadn't gone through the same procedures that they had gone through. Maybe this is what Sue meant when she had said she'd have a family, she'd have people who understood. No more killing, and she'd be able to work on cars all the time, and she had a nice place to stay. Now all she needed to do was find Rachel and Mike had said they'd start tomorrow. This could be good for them. Santana exhaled slowly, she needed a bit of fresh air and maybe she'd have a drink or two—it had been awhile since she had any alcohol. She had needed to keep her wits about her when she was on the road with Finn and his men and there were days when she had just needed a drink. To wash away guilt for not helping Rachel. Rachel had said it was okay, had told her that she understood. But she couldn't fight—not anymore. She turned to exit the small club when she noticed Rachel looking completely out of place as she tried to talk to someone, looking around desperately. "Rachel!" Santana called out but her voice was immediately drowned out by the music, and she knew that Rachel's unenhanced ears wouldn't be able to hear her.

Rachel felt her wrist grabbed and she winced as she was pulled towards some guy who attempted to dance with her. She tried to pull away but he had a firm grip on her. "Let me go!" Rachel snapped at him. She was already sick of the city with its people and she was certainly sick of people treating her like some sort of object. She tried to pull herself away and get to safety, this had not been one of her best ideas and maybe she should have just waited outside for the twins. She hadn't noticed that her struggle had attracted attention and people were slowly turning to her.

"Aw come on, don't be like that. If you're at Combustion it only means one thing," he hissed at her tightening his grip on her wrist. Unenhanced women and men came in there looking to _party_. Anything and everything went at Combustion.

"Hey she said to let her go," Santana said shoving him off Rachel, which only caused more people to stop and start paying attention. It was like a fight was going to break out soon, and they wanted to be able to watch. She didn't know anything about this guy, but if he was anything like the twins as talented then she had just picked a fight she couldn't win. But she immediately pulled Rachel behind her regardless. She didn't want to fight, but she had already made up her mind that no one absolutely no one was ever going to mess with Rachel again.

"This is _Combustion_ ," Clint said standing and looking at Santana squinting at her. "Who the hell are you and what squad are you on? I saw her first which means—"

"Which means nothing. She said _no_ Clint. So back off. Santana's with Argon Squad." Mike said as he put his drink down and stood up. Sam following his lead. He glanced over at Puck who had made a face but was currently pulling up his pants. He flicked his eyes towards the twins, but they hadn't moved. He swore inwardly, Charlie and Quinn were their heavy hitters, Clint was a tough son of a bitch already.

Clint eyed Mike for a moment and then looked at Santana. "She's _at_ Combustion which means she's fair game and you know it." He nods at the rest of his squad who begin to move. He doesn't expect the twin's to intervene, they rarely ever do. This will be quick he doesn't like being told no. He towers over Santana trying to use his size to intimidate her.

Quinn studies the situation even as the woman on top of her continues to grind against the palm of her hand and she tilts her attention to Charlie. This is ruining her buzz and her mood. She wondered if she gave Rachel a gun if she'd pull the trigger on Clint, it was interesting thing to ponder and she pauses for a moment. Her twin was in the mood to fight and yet she wasn't rushing into this and bashing Clint's ugly face into the ground several times. With a grunt she pushes the woman off her and stands up moving to the railing so she can get a better assessment of the situation. "Clint." Quinn began causing everyone to stop and turn to her. "Do _not_ make me come down there."

Charlie frowned and tore her eyes from the scene in front of her, she had wanted to watch Santana fight again. There was something there. "Quinn, Santana would have beaten his face in." Charlie said and every turned to her. "I wanted to watch." She sighs and gets up, almost immediately people give her space and she walks up to Clint. "I'll take care of it Quinn," she says as Clint backs up. Charlie sighs and moves, her foot sliding behind him as she trips him. As the lumbering jackass falls Charlie grabs his face with her good hand and begins to smash it against the floor repeatedly, bouncing his head as if it were a basketball.

Rachel's eyes widened at the violence and she looked at Quinn who was just standing there topless, she pauses for a moment and turns back to Quinn wondering why the hell she was topless in a place like this. Wasn't she worried about some asshole like Clint grabbing her? She eyes Quinn again for a moment but Charlie hasn't stopped. So she averts her eyes and ends up looking at Quinn again. Hazel eyes meet hers and she sees Quinn smirk at her and Rachel immediately turns her head away and just grabs Santana's arm pulling on it. "Santana let's go," she says to her as Charlie finishes and nudges Clint's unconscious body with her foot. Almost immediately everyone goes back to what they were doing, but she's tugging Santana out of Combustion. It's not until they're outside and Rachel realizes that no one is following them that she stops and gets a good look at Santana and throws her arms around her tightly. "Are you okay? What happened? Where did they take you? Why were you _there_?"

Santana relaxes and hugs her friend back, grateful that nothing bad had happened to her and she exhales, "I—they took me into holding and asked me a few questions—and then I got drafted into their army." Santana admits. "I don't have to fight and they said that I could be a mechanic—and they gave me food and water, and I have a nice apartment in the good part of the Citadel Rachel. I mean yeah I could use better neighbors—but you get to live with me and we don't have to go back out there. You'll be safe. This could be a new beginning where we're not always going to have to run."

Rachel paused, "You want to _stay?_ " She questions she hates this place already. And she had heard Santana tell her about her old Citadel—the horrors that they had inflicted on her. How could she want to stay here? She's only been here for 24 hours and it's _suffocating_.

Santana nods, "You should see the apartment they gave the two of us Rachel. It's big and we'll have our own beds and we can shower whenever we want, and we get food. You can have some of mine because the modded people don't have rations the way that the unenhanced people do. You'll never be hungry again and they have strict laws, which means that you'll be protected."

"Like I was protected in there?" Rachel argues. "Did they _brainwash_ you Santana? You know what happened the last time you—"

"They didn't change them—they didn't mutilate their bodies Rachel. It's different here. I get to work on cars, and no one is going to make me fight. If we go out there then what? Seriously what are we going to do? If we don't starve to death, it'll just be more of the same like it was with Finn," Santana points out. "Maybe we find a good caravan and we travel but eventually I'll run into someone from my past or more slavers."

Rachel bites her lip, she doesn't want to admit that Santana has a point a very fair point but she hates it here, "Santana you don't understand they _put me in the army_."

"Rachel you're not a soldier—like not even remotely close to being a soldier," Santana says and pinches the bridge of her nose. " _Why_ did you sign up to join the army?"

Rachel rolls her eyes, "Well I could hardly tell them I was Finn Hudson's whore now could I?" She says bitterly. "He asked me what I did to get Quinn to notice me and I said the first thing I could think of. I shot someone. I never added he was basically my owner, or that I was his whore and that he—" Rachel exhales slowly. There are things she simply doesn't want to talk about. Finn was dead, he could never hurt her ever again. She didn't have to pretend anymore. And maybe one day she wouldn't see his face in her nightmares.

Santana swallows feeling guilty. It's her fault, she could have rescued Rachel at any time but she just couldn't bring herself to kill him. So the least she could do, the very least she could do was make sure that Rachel never had to worry ever again. That she got some sort of normalcy. That she had some form of stability. "Look I'll talk to the Commander and see if she can pull any strings. Then we can find you a job that you like? I mean she gave us this amazing apartment, and all I have to do is fix cars and you can live there with me. It's what I want to do—so maybe we can find something that you want to do as well? You just need to give it a chance—please Rachel?"

Rachel was quiet for a moment, she heard the desperation in Santana's voice. She wanted to stay she wanted to be around like people like the soldiers in there and she wanted a place to call home. There wasn't another option staying in the Citadel would mean that she'd never be anyone's slave again. No one could ever _use her_. "Okay—but if it's not working out—?"

"We'll leave. We'll leave and we'll find another place to call home." Santana promises, because even though she sounds eager. All the stuff that she got—all the things that Sue had given her had come with a price and she hadn't quite figured out what Sue's deal was.

* * *

Brittany had been looking forward to spending the evening with Frannie attempting to make it up to her. She smiled as she glanced at the wine that she had managed to get her hands on. She had come a bit early to prepare and had even gotten some more chocolate. It was Frannie's favorite even if she denied having a sweet tooth. Then she had worn the black negligee that Frannie adored. Tonight was supposed to be a good night—a very good night. So when the door slammed shut Brittany knew that their night was ruined, and she padded out of their bedroom and looked at Frannie who was vibrating in anger. She watched silently as Frannie stormed around their apartment muttering under her breath. There was only one person who made Frannie this angry and this upset. "Bad day at work?"

Frannie turned on Brittany immediately, finally noticing her for the first time. She doesn't notice the preparations, she doesn't notice the effort. "What do _you think_?" She snaps at Brittany harshly. "Of _course_ , I had a bad fucking day at work! Not all of us can flit around a lab all day doing whatever we want and making as much candy and liquor as possible!"

Her tone was harsh and Brittany takes a step back and watches Frannie for a moment and counts to thirty slowly. Ignoring the opening and slamming of drawers as Frannie looks for _something_ , she never understood what Frannie was looking for but she never finds it, she's just trying to blow off steam. When she finally gets to thirty Brittany inhales slowly. " _Frannie_." She says her tone calm and she watches as Frannie freezes. She recognizes the tone well and she watches as Frannie's shoulders slump and finally the sob that escapes her lips. It's only then that Brittany moves to comfort her taking her hand and pulling her to the couch and wrapping her arms around her.

"I just—and he just—and he treats me like I'm nothing and all I want—" Frannie says as she breaks down. "I'm sorry." She repeats over and over.

Brittany rubs her back slowly and calmly, she didn't understand why Russell Fabray got to her so much. Or why she worked so hard to impress a man that treated her so poorly. But bringing that up would only lead to a fight, and she didn't want to fight anymore. She sniffles slightly, because Frannie crying breaks her heart and she rubs at her eyes. A part of her wants to ask the twins to just take care of it, but Frannie loves him even though he doesn't deserve it. Brittany kisses Frannie's head gently. "It's okay, I know you didn't mean it." Brittany says as she attempts to soothe Frannie.


	4. Chapter 4

Rachel bit her lip at the nice apartment, "This is _ours_?" She asked turning to Santana who smiled proudly, glad that she was pleased with it. Sure it was empty and it could certainly use a dusting and some cleaning, but they had a _tub_. She could finally take a _bath_. Plus they had a stove and a fridge—things that had been an absolute luxury for them on the outside. She frowns ever so slightly because this seems too much. "What's the catch?" Santana's smile fades but she doesn't let that phase her. "What's the catch Santana? There has to be one, they _have_ mechanics here and from what I gathered where you live and the perks that you get is based on what you do and how useful you are to the city."

Santana sighed, Rachel had every right to be suspicious. This was far too good to be true, she felt it to, and she was waiting for the other shoe to drop. "There is no catch Rachel—not really. At least not that I've figured out. I mean the Commander is a bit—crazy and I think she's using me in some game that she's playing. But—I'm not fighting, she said that I don't have to fight and I can work on cars—and that I'd have a family." Santana says running her hands along the island in the kitchen. "This Citadel treats their genetically modified soldiers _differently_." Santana admits after a moment.

Rachel looks around the place still feeling slightly uneasy, for the past few months everything that she had received had come with a price, whether it was something as simple as a cup of water to the clothes on her back. This was far more than that and she couldn't shake the feeling that the price would be far too steep for them to pay. "There's nothing wrong with the place is there?"

Santana was about to shake her head when there was a thud outside the door that caused Rachel to jump, there was a scratching at the door and Santana moved into action darting to check on who was disturbing them. They had left Combustion and had been dropped off by Sam and Puck. She had thought that this place would be safe but clearly that wasn't the case. She checked the peephole, but couldn't get a good read on the person outside. All she can smell is alcohol and smoke. Santana turns to Rachel immediately. "Rachel—I need you to go to one of the bedrooms." Santana says, as the scratching at the door continues. The doorknob rattles and Santana grips it waiting until she hears the sound of the door closing and she counts to three before she unlocks and whips the door open. She takes a step back immediately as two bodies hit the floor. The immediate smell of pheromones makes Santana take a step back as she looks at Quinn who is currently on top of some random woman that she had probably picked up at the bar. " _Quinn?"_

Quinn's pulls away from the woman's lips and looks up. "You again?" she asks Santana. Irritation evident in her voice as the woman underneath her continues to work on getting her shirt off as she kisses and sucks on her neck trying to mark her. "What the fuck are you doing in my apartment?"

Santana stares at Quinn in shock for a moment, she's drunk again. She can tell by the slur in her speech, and a part of her wonders if this is why everyone moved out of the apartments. "This isn't _your fucking apartment_. You live across the fucking hall!" Santana snaps back. Quinn gives her a blank stare, and then goes back to the woman who has her shirt half off and slides her hand down the front of her pants, planning to ignore the irritating woman and just get on with it. Santana's jaw drops for a moment and she's about to start yelling when she spots the other twin walking up to their apartment. "Look, Charlie—can you please do something about this?" Santana asks pinching the bridge of her nose.

Charlie tilts her head towards Santana for a moment and flicks her eyes down to Quinn who is currently thrusting her fingers in and out of the girl at a rapid pace. Charlie rolls her eyes not the least perturbed by Quinn's actions. Her night had been a bust and she was in a bit of a mood. "If it bothers you then _make_ her stop," Charlie said turning back to Santana.

Santana frowns at the edge in Charlie's voice. "I _don't_ want to fight her, I just want to get some sleep!" She wasn't surprised when Charlie didn't budge, and she tried to block out the moans and grunts coming from the unenhanced person that Quinn was busy fucking on her floor. Santana made a face and crinkled her nose, she could smell it, and she could _hear_ every last noise and she shivered. She looks over at Charlie once more but the other twin doesn't seem to be in the mood to help. Santana groans and storms over to the sink turning on the water and pouring some in a cup. She storms right back over to Quinn and the girl and tilts the cup onto them, spilling the contents all over them.

Quinn's body went rigid after the cold water hit her and she slowly looks up at Santana her eyes narrowing. She can hear Charlie's laughter and she flushes angrily. She pulls her fingers free, not caring that they're soaked in another woman's wetness and clenches her fist, all night people had been ruining the mood and all she wants is to _fuck_ someone until they screamed her name. Both times Santana had been at the center of it all and she's already beginning to hate her. " _You_ —"

Rachel pops her head out of the bedroom, "Santana is it safe now?" she asks and flicks her eyes to Quinn who is still on top of another woman, both of them looked wet. Rachel blinks wondering what the hell is going on. "What are _they_ doing here?" she demands.

Quinn turns to Rachel and frowns ever so slightly. "You tried to kill me," she says bluntly pulling off the girl, distracted completely from what she had been doing before. She ignores the girl's whines for attention and shoves Santana aside approaching Rachel.

Rachel doesn't notice Santana moving to her side, and she certainly doesn't see Charlie moving to intercept Quinn if things go out of hand. "You _kidnapped Santana and myself_. _Of course_ I tried to shoot you." Rachel says angrily. This is all their fault, and while a part of her knows that she should be grateful that they helped rescue her from Finn, Quinn wasn't her hero. She had been prepared to leave her to starve to death. Rachel frowns for a moment, as it dawns on her that Quinn is practically topless in front of her. "Will it _kill you_ , to keep your shirt on?" she snaps at Quinn looking away.

Quinn frowned and looked down at herself, her pants were undone and her shirt was unbuttoned she smirks at Rachel and is about to say something, when she feels arms wrap around her waist and she tilts her head to look at who had touched her. "Baby, you promised," she wines playfully leaning in and kissing Quinn who responds. Quinn turns back to Rachel who looks absolutely enraged by her behavior.

"Quinn, let's get out of here, we've still got to deal with Commander in the morning," Charlie says with an irritated sigh flicking her eyes to Santana. If she couldn't fight then she wanted to watch a good fight and she was good, if a little rough around the edges. Maybe she'd be interesting for a few minutes before she was eternally bored.

Santana frowns as she finally manages to get their unwelcomed guests out of their apartment and she shuts the door and locks it and turns to Rachel who looks furious. "They live across the hall," Santana says after a moment of waiting for Rachel to explode in anger.

"I thought you said that there wasn't a _price!_ "

Santana winces and wants to cover her sensitive ears. It's going to be a long night of trying to explain to Rachel that this was still a good thing. Even if she's not quite sure if she believed it herself.

* * *

Sue Sylvester rarely _ever_ called for these types of general inspections but she needed to assess where her current troop strength. She hadn't handicapped herself as badly as everyone seemed to think, her top squads would easily wipe the floor with Will's haphazardly chosen soldiers. She stopped in front of Clint whose face was battered and looked like he had been put through hell and back. "Clint?"

"Yes Ma'am," he said still at attention trying to look at her even though one eye was still swollen shut. Charlie had fractured most of the bones in his face and his healing was not as great as the _'Wonder twins'_. The only positive to this situation was that his face really didn't hurt.

"What happened to your face?" Sue questions but Clint doesn't answer right away. " _I asked you a question_." Sue snaps at him, getting in his face and he turns away for a split second.

"I got into a fight at Combustion Ma'am." He swallows because this isn't good.

"You lost," Sue said bluntly, and shakes her head. It had to have been Charlie by the looks of the damage. It was stupid to get into a fight with _either_ twin. It showed poor judgement on his part, and she didn't need his _stupidity_ and brashness, infecting everyone else. "Unfortunately for you, the rest of Chromium Squad have been cut from the War Games."

Clint frowned as best as he could with his messed up face. " _But Ma'am_ —" Clint immediately protests, breaking rank and taking a step towards her. That wasn't fair at all, his face would be healed within the week—two at most. They didn't deserve to be stripped of their chance to participate in the War Games. Clint had the good sense to shut his mouth when Sue shot him withering look and he immediately took formation, standing at attention again. It wasn't fair, fucking Argon Squad, he ran his squad like a well-oiled machine. It shouldn't matter if the Argon Squad was by far the strongest squad, they were barely functional. He had even heard they had failed their _last_ mission. It wasn't fair that they got preferential treatment because the Commander had a soft spot for the twins.

Sue studied Clint for a moment, it was a shame he had been promising. He showed passable leadership skills but his arrogance and narcissism was going to get him and his squad killed. A little humility would do Chromium squad some good and she'd be able to test out another promising squad. Sue continued her inspection, carefully looking at every team assessing them in her head, adjusting their position in the ranks in her head. She'd only take her fifty best teams. She nearly passed Mike and Argon squad, and paused for a moment and took a few steps back. Forty percent of his five man team was missing. "Mike."

Mike swallowed, "Yes Ma'am." He said knowing what the next question was going to be. He should have gone there himself and dragged them kicking and screaming to this inspection. But like an _idiot_ , he had assumed that once they got the message that there was going to be an inspection they'd show up. He should have known better. They'd been on the same squad for _years_. He really should have known better.

Sue studied Sam and Puck before flicking her eyes back to Mike. "Where are they?"

Mike could feel a bead of sweat travel down his forehead, and he knew most of the attention was on him and the rest of Argon Squad. He looked like a terrible leader that couldn't control his squad. He had heard it-all. He'd like to see any of them try and coral the twins when they didn't want to show up. He was sure most of them would end up in the hospital. "I don't know Ma'am. I don't know." He repeats crisply and clearly.

"I see." Sue said and then studied Argon Squad again, and continued to walk and inspect the rest of her squadrons. She had _put_ Mike in charge of Argon Squad because out of all the men and women in her army, he had all the qualifications she was looking for. Sam and Puck didn't piss the twins off enough but they didn't have excellent leadership skills. Mike was calm, he was collected and most importantly, he had excellent leadership skills and the twins tolerated him better. The only problem was that tolerating him didn't mean that they respected him enough to follow his command. She'd have to personally deal with them later. There was a part of her that wanted to immediately remove Argon Squad from the games but the twins by themselves struck fear into the hearts of most people in the Citadel. She finished her inspection, taking her time, focusing on the rest of the squads working her way all the way down to the Hydrogen Squad.

Sue kept moving until she was standing ahead of her troops, "At ease," she barked watching as her troops relaxed. "As you may have heard we will be having War Games with the unenhanced branch of the army. 250 of my best and brightest will be going against Will and I want to say this now. _Failure is not an option_. So I'm going to call out squadron names, will the captains of each squadron please meet me for a strategy meeting, the rest of you will be dismissed to go about your normal activities." Sue said loudly. "Lithium, Boron, Carbon, Silicon, Titanium—"

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Puck hisses quietly, despite knowing that everyone in the vicinity could hear them. Mike elbowed him and shook his head and he frowned. He could see the smug looks on all the other squadron's faces, but he couldn't care less. They were the best damn squad that Sue had, how could she skip over them.

"Where the hell are they?" Sam mutters, out of all the times for them to blow off an inspection, this _wasn't the best time_. Now they were going to complain endlessly about how they couldn't compete in mock simulations. It was interesting and it was new. It could have been some fun.

Mike didn't say anything he just gave Sam and Puck a look, shutting them up. At this point he didn't care about the War Games, it would be difficult enough controlling the twins and making sure they didn't accidentally _kill_ members of the unenhanced army. Of course now they would probably accidentally kill members of the _enhanced_ army instead to make a point. He was damned if he did and damned if he didn't.

"Plutonium, Americium and Dubnium." Sue said pausing for effect and then looked over at Argon squad studying Mike for a moment. Sue Sylvester didn't just want to _win_ , she wanted to absolutely _destroy_ and _embarrass_ William's side. It made sense that if the citizens of the Citadel no longer had confidence in William's side then the council would be forced to side with her and she'd get her full budget back. "And let's not forget Argon Squad." She ignored the whispers of discontent that immediately ran through the crowd. "I _expect_ the Captains of each Squadron that was called out to meet me in the War Room in five minutes. The rest of you—go back to whatever you're _supposed_ to be doing and think about being _better_. _Dismissed._ " Sue barks out as her army immediately snaps to attention once more as she walks off the podium.

Mike ignores the heated looks he's getting from the other squadrons and turns to Sam and Puck who were giving each other high-fives. This wasn't something to be celebrating. Sue was insane and for all he knew there would be an unfortunate punishment for the entire squad which they'd up doing and the twins would end up doing their own thing because they _didn't_ want to do it. "I want you to _find them_. I want you to get them in uniform, and get them _here_ where they'll be the ones to explain to the Commander why they missed an inspection and we aren't going to take the punishment without them. They aren't just going to leave us to do whatever sick and twisted thing the Commander asks us to do." Mike sighed. "I have to go I don't want to piss her off further and arriving on time means that I'm late." With that he takes off running, heading to the war room.

Sam and Puck glanced at each other. Mike had given them the _hard job_. It certainly felt like a punishment, "So—you want to say we looked for them and just didn't find them?" Puck asked Sam.

" _Yep_." Sam said shaking his head. "They're probably drunk again and or having sex with someone. It ends up badly for us if we interrupt," Sam said. "Come on let's go do an equipment check and then head down to the armory."

"If you want to see some guns Sam—" Puck trails off, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively as he flexes. Sam gives him a dry look and walks off. "Oh come on Sam!"

* * *

William Schuester entered the elevator in the apartment complex. News and rumors moved fast in the Citadel, especially with Sue's pet project the Wonder Twins involved. He had heard about them finally bringing back _two_ refugees. It was unheard of, and they _had_ to be useful. Useful enough for Sue to try and hide them in this part of the city. Put them within close contact of the twins so that they could protect them, but he _knew_ things. If Sue had gone through great lengths to hide this girl from him. Allowing her to live in a place like this then she had to be an asset. Why else would the twins bring them to the Citadel? He stepped off on the thirteenth floor and walked straight to the apartment. He glanced warily at the twin's apartment for a moment. He would need to separate her from them so that they could have a private talk. He knocked on the door. It took a moment but the door opened and William looked down at the short woman in front of him. Confusion crossed his face immediately, he didn't know what he had expected when he had glanced over her file but _this_. This wasn't it. He wouldn't judge her simply by her looks though, she must have something to offer and he puts on a smile. "Commander William Schuester I am in charge of the unenhanced army here in the Citadel," he said extending his hand towards her. "You must be Rachel Berry, I read your file."

Rachel stared at his hand for a moment before taking it and shaking it. She had expected some recruiter to come and tell her about how great the army was and all the opportunities that was open to her, not the head of the army at her door. She stares, even knowing that it's rude but this seems _off_ , incredibly off. She didn't know much about the army but the idea of a Commander coming to meet her and try and convince her to join the army seemed like it wasn't standard operating procedure. Even Finn didn't go out of his way to meet the new recruits. "I heard—I'm sorry I was just cleaning our new apartment. I thought I had a few days before a recruiter came down to see me—I never expected the Commander of the army."

Will smiled at her before he realized that this small girl was currently surrounded by those enhanced monsters. This wouldn't do at all. His first order of business was getting her proper accommodation without having to worry about what the Twin Terrors were doing to her, and Sue getting her claws into Rachel. "I understand but it's not every day that the Twin Terrors take an interest in anyone. Let alone bring anyone back and sign their names on the immigration forms. Which means that they believe—or at least one of them believes that you're _worth_ something, that you have some useful skill that will benefit this city." Will pauses for a moment, "May I come in?"

Rachel blinks this was new, well she had heard bits and pieces of it before but she didn't know that Quinn had signed her name on the immigration papers. She would wonder what that meant later, "Where are my manners—I'm sorry about the mess, but we just arrived yesterday and Santana had to go to work this morning. So it's still dusty and we're thinking about trying to figure something out, to keep the—" Rachel stops and looks at Will she doesn't know him and she doesn't quite know what power he has. Even if she's irritated at their presence, she doesn't want to get them in trouble. She would grudgingly admit that her life had taken a turn for the better since they had kidnapped them. Will studied her, "It's unimportant—we don't have much but would you like a glass of water?" Rachel asked him.

Will smiled at her warmly. "I'm fine. I prefer to get right down to business. I want to know everything about you Rachel, I want to know what makes you so _special_. There isn't nearly enough information in your file and I want to find the right position in my army for you."

"Truthfully, I don't really _want_ to join the army. I appreciate the fact that you came all the way down here, but I don't think that I'm—cut from the right cloth." Rachel flashes him a relaxed smile. "Santana says that I'd be terrible at it, having someone telling me what to do, all the time she said it would get old really fast."

The smile on Will's smile fades, he wasn't quite used to be being told no especially by someone who was so far beneath him. He's quiet studying Rachel for a moment, perhaps she had some better offers. Sue taking on an _unenhanced_ person seemed like something that she would do. She was always attempting to humiliate him, trying to embarrass him. His anger spikes and he locks eyes with Rachel as he moves closer. He takes a deep calming breath, and pushes the smile on his face. "I'm sorry I don't quite think you understand how the Citadel works. If you _truly_ believe that Sue cares about someone _unenhanced_ like you than you're delusional. Especially because soon Sue won't have _any power_ left in this Citadel. We'll have a _utopia_ , where we aren't spat on by those modified freaks. You know we'd be able to take in more refugees, more people if they weren't _such a leech_ on society." Will calms himself. "This is the _best_ opportunity that you're going to get Rachel. This is the _best job_ you're going to get and it's _best_ to choose the winning side. Beside who's going to want to hire you when they know that you're a _killer_ and worse that your only friends in the Citadel are the genetically modified soldiers? That you're getting special treatment because you're one of their _whores_?"

Rachel's body tenses wondering how he knew, but his wording is off and she looks at him. It doesn't seem like something that Quinn or Charlie would write in their report—they didn't seem like the type to worry about silly little things like reports. So it was just an insult, like everyone else in this city who seemed to hate the people who she was sure protected them more than they knew. "Perhaps not—but that doesn't mean that I _wish_ to be bullied by you into joining your army. I'm _not_ a fighter. I never even held a gun before Quinn handed me one. I think you have the very wrong idea about me. I don't _know_ why Quinn signed the immigration papers or what she saw me. She _kidnapped me_. If you're asking what my special talent is, it seems that I have a knack for _getting kidnapped_."

Will stared at her, disbelief. It had been years since anyone had talked to him like that. He resisted the urge to force her into line, that was something that Sue did with her monsters and he wasn't a monster. He pulled away and touched the dusty counter and frowned as he rubbed his fingers clean. "I don't believe you. As monstrous as the twins are, I'm sure that everything that they do has a reason. I notice that you're living with this Santana person—you will join the army because now that I think about it, you're already in the perfect position. You've infiltrated the modified freaks. It's practically impossible for me to get good eyes and ears with Sue's camp and I need information. I need to know what she's up to."

"I don't even know Sue—" Rachel begins angrily, she's not going to spy on Santana or anyone else. Santana liked it here. Why she would never understand, Will was _exactly_ like Finn just worse. He had more power, sure he might not be a rapist but he was a bully, a terrible bully and she wasn't going to stand for it.

"No, but you know her two favorite _pets_ ," Will said and smirked at her. "They know more than that they let on, and it's your job to report everything that you hear from them and their team. I need to know exactly what Sue is planning." With the war games coming up it was the perfect plan to _crush_ Sue and making sure that people questioned the use of genetically modified soldiers.

Rachel wanted to point out that she _didn't_ even like the twins, and Santana was her _friend_ one who she wasn't going to betray because of him. She was excited to go to work, to just work on cars and not be belittled and treated like garbage by the people she was working for. "I am _not_ , going to _spy_ for you. I am not going to do _anything_ for you. Now if you can please leave." Rachel said breaking free from him and storming over to the door and opening it and giving him a look. She was done being used by people.

Will stood there for a moment, studying Rachel and then smiled at her calmly. "If that's what you wish." He moved towards the door, and stopped, "I hope you don't get to comfortable. That friend of yours Santana was it, well from what I gathered she doesn't have illegal mods. Which means that another Citadel spent money and resources creating her. The fact that she's here instead of back in that Citadel means that she went AWOL and once I find out what Citadel that is, I'll make sure that they return her. I have enough clout with the council these days to make sure that anything happens." He watches as Rachel freezes and he smiles at her.

Rachel freezes, she didn't know what would happen to Santana but she knew enough, more than enough to know that it would be bad—worse than her time with Finn. Anyone that could force such a change on someone had to be bad, she swallows. She didn't even like the twins and it was just information. It'd give her time to figure out what to do and how she and Santana could _escape_. "What do I have to do?" Rachel asks as she closes the door and puts a resigned look on her face. It's a look that she's practiced to the point of perfection and judging from the smug smirk on his face, like Finn, Will takes believes her. Hook, line and sinker.

* * *

"You want to see if she wants to go get lunch with us?" Sam asked as they passed the garage that they had dropped Santana off this morning. He wasn't even quite sure how it worked since they didn't even _have_ a real mechanic. All of their vehicles were fixed up by the other branch. Which generally meant that they took their sweet time doing it so having their own mechanic seemed to be a good thing.

Puck glanced over at the garage and smirked, "Sure why not, maybe she'll want to see my gun—and other things," Puck said with a smirk. Sam gave him an irritated look and he was sure he saw something else there but he wasn't going to question it. He shook his head and shot Sam a look as they entered the old garage that they had walked by practically every day for years without ever going inside. It had looked decrepit on the outside and they had dropped Santana off this morning and had rushed to get ready for the inspection, leaving her to figure things out on her own. He was surprised though by how clean and professional looking it was on the inside. What looked to be brand new tools were already lining the walls and it looked like the unenhanced garages that they needed to take their vehicles to. Someone was even in the process of building a lift for her. " _Shit_ , the Commander moves _fast_ ," he muttered under his breath.

Sam had to agree, he had felt sorry for Santana who still wasn't quite sure what to do. They didn't have any formal mechanics that Santana had to report to and they certainly didn't know what to do when it came to stuff like this, but it seemed that it had all been set up to Santana's specifications and there was already a transport truck in the garage which meant that Santana was already busy. "Santana?" he called out wondering where she was.

Santana rolled out from underneath the transport van, this place had _everything_. She was still confused as to how everything work but it seemed that she had been put in charge and given some free reign. She wasn't reporting to anyone though she imagined that someone would end up telling her and giving her instructions but she was already working on cars and these were the best tools that she had. Ever. She had been given everything she needed and no one was expecting her to fight. The Commander had kept her promise and they were in _desperate_ need of a mechanic. There was such a backlog of vehicles that needed to be fixed, she'd be busy for months. Some of them just needed something as simple as an oil change others needed to get a whole new engine or spark plugs. Some simply needed new tires. She wondered if she _showed_ Rachel _her_ garage, it would help calm her down. "Yeah?" She asked wiping her oily hands on a grease stained towel.

Puck tilted his head and looked at her on the ground, "It's time for lunch and we wanted to know if you wanted to grab something to eat and hang out with the coolest squad _ever_."

Santana pauses she's so used to having to go days without meals and she's about to nod when she pauses. "Are the twins with you?"

Sam and Puck glance at each other, "If anyone asks we looked for them but we never found them," Sam says after a moment and Puck nods. "They're in deep shit for missing for the inspection. Mike's pissed, I think the Commander is pissed which means that they'll get in trouble and they have a tendency to _shoot the messenger._ "

"We don't want to be shot," Puck throws in and Santana snorts at this. He smiles at her, "But seriously though they aren't that bad."

Santana shoots him a look of disbelief, "Last night, Quinn got the wrong apartment and proceeded to have _sex_ on my floor while Charlie egged me on to _force_ Quinn to leave. What do you mean they aren't that _bad_?" Puck and Sam both share looks again and start to snicker. " _What?"_

"That's it? When I first found out that I was on the squad with the Wonder Twins, well Quinn put me in the hospital for weeks," Puck explained.

"He forgets to mention that he _slapped_ Quinn's ass," Sam said dryly. "If he tries to do the same with you, it's perfectly acceptable to break bones," Sam throws in.

Santana turns to Puck who wiggles his eyebrows at her and she laughs at his ridiculousness. "What's their deal anyway?" Santana asks as she tosses the towel away and moves with Sam and Puck to the mess hall.

"Their deal is that they're the last genetic modified beings that this Citadel made successfully. Their modifications were highly experimental and dangerous. Which is why they're so much stronger than everyone else." Sam explains.

Puck smiles and run a hand through his Mohawk. "You know how it is as a mod." He grins when Santana nods. "You get them when you're young like really young so that we can maximize the potential. By the time we're five we're already stronger than most grown men. Which is why we're separated from the unenhanced kids, I get it. Mind of a child, strength of an adult. It's for their own safety. But it's not that bad because we had other kids like us that we can play with. How we want if we want to roughhouse there wasn't much chance that we would hurt each other. By the time they were five—they made us look unenhanced. Rumor has it that they were playing tag and they snapped someone's arm accidentally." Puck shrugs at this. "Truthfully, I don't know how much is true. It's just rumors getting the story out of them is damn near impossible. What I do know is true is that they were raised separately from us. I hear that they ran experiments on them, and stuff trying to get them to their full potential—or trying to find out what made them so damn special. They don't talk about that shit either. Like I said mostly rumors. But that's basically the story, you'd have to ask them if you want to know how much is true or not. They won't give you a straight answer because they don't talk about it."

Sam studies Santana for a moment, there was a lot of other stuff when it came to the twins but they had just met her and it didn't seem right to talk about it. "What's your story?" Sam asks. "We've never met another modified individual from another Citadel," he explains.

Santana was quiet for a moment and bites the inside of her cheek. It's an internal debate that she has but Rachel knows and while she doesn't understand everything she understands enough. "My family—got accepted into one of the Citadels when was like a baby. I mean it was kind of a shitty place to grow up. It was a real religious place where they practiced the old religions. Talked about making America great again and expanding and getting more and more people. They—were corrupt. Most of the people in power were corrupt. They'd talk about morals, they'd talk about how to be god fearing people but the things I saw them do." Santana was quiet and she frowns ever so slightly. "They had a lottery—to determine who was genetically modified. I was four, it was right before I aged out of the lottery when my name came up. I underwent the process."

" _Fuck_." Puck said simply staring at Santana. Four was old enough that you'd remember. You'd remember all the treatments. I mean he heard some people still had echoes of what was done to them, but that was nightmares. They'd never remember the next time.

Santana snorts, "Yeah. Fuck. I remember _everything_. I wish I didn't. I remember what it was like—to be whole. Before they took everything from me. My family—my friends, my—body," Santana whispers the last part and blinks a few times before clearing her throat.

"What do you mean your body?" Sam asked.

"Women—weren't as good as men. They were weak—if they got caught by the enemy they were going to be easier to break because we could get raped. So they made me more like—a boy in some parts." Santana explained to them looking at them. People found out all the time and she was so used to disgust, so used to people making her feel less human than she already felt. She didn't feel like a woman sometime. Freak was a better term.

"Holy shit—no wonder you got the hell out of there." Sam said absolutely horrified. "I mean I thought we had it bad—but _fuck_."

"Didn't you have proper training?" Puck asks completely baffled. "Like the Commander is batshit crazy but she makes sure that we're ready that we're prepared for _everything and anything_. Including that—I mean she cares about us. Even if she calls us her pawns, all the time we're still important to her. Every last one of us." Puck said.

Santana stared at them, they were taking this in stride they were horrified for her. It was the same reaction Rachel had when she had finally told the story and she relaxes. She thinks she's going to like it here. "I escaped when I was fourteen." Santana says continuing on with her story.

"And then?" Puck asks, Santana certainly looks a lot older than fourteen, but she shrugs and he grumbles. "Oh come on. I'll tell you my life story."

"Don't." Sam said immediately stopping her before she could say anything. "He'll spend the next hour talking about all the men and women he's slept with."

Puck pouted and Santana laughed for the first time in a long time, she was going to like it here. Sue was right she would have everything that she could ever wanted—plus family. She and Rachel were going to get a huge family.

* * *

Quinn sighed as she threw the dart at the dartboard that they had discovered a few months ago, "You know, this was more fun when we could drop stuff on people's head," Quinn says looking at Charlie who is lying down on the roof of Brittany's building staring at the clouds.

Charlie smiles at the memory, water, buckets of paint, they had dropped it all off the roof of Brittany's building much to the annoyance of the workers. "If we get caught again Brittany said she'd cut our bacon supply." Charlie reminded Quinn.

"Well who says we're going to get caught?" Quinn asks turning to Charlie. Her twin doesn't make a move to get up and take her turn and she rolls her eyes and moves to go meet her and sit by her. Charlie shoots that amused smirk on her face and Quinn laughs. "I mean apart from the fact that it's _always_ us. We'll just deny it or run away."

Charlie finally sits up and looks at her wrist that is healing prodding it with a finger. She didn't _feel_ anything, it wasn't throbbing or itching. It was just there and she didn't like it. "Well—we could always go dump stuff on Frannie. She did make Brittany upset. I'm pretty sure Brittany doesn't want us to _kill her_. Like _fifty percent_ sure."

Quinn smiles at that for a moment, before pausing. "I'm pretty sure they made up again. She might be upset with us if we dump paint on Frannie. Plus she'll know it was us. She knew the last time it was us and you remember how mad she got then." Quinn turns to Charlie and gently pulls at her broken wrist massaging it gently to comfort her.

Charlie takes the comfort and relaxes and tilts her head up to look at the sky for a moment. "People are odd. I love you and we don't fight with each other not like Brittany and Frannie do." She never fought with Quinn, not with her words anyway. They fought all the time with their hands, but that's because there was no one else they could do it with.

Quinn nods at Charlie's assessment. "They are odd, but Brittany says she loves Frannie and she wants us to respect that." Quinn crinkles her nose at that. "Maybe we should threaten Frannie to make sure that she doesn't hurt Brittany again."

"I thought you did that last time?" Charlie asks tilting her head. She smiles as an idea pops into her head. "Maybe if we dangle her over the wall and threaten to drop her she'll be nice to Brittany."

Quinn grins at that idea, it was definitely something to keep in mind the next time Frannie stepped out of line. She puts Charlie's hand down and lays back on the ceiling and looks at the clouds. "Last night was boring—she was boring. Do you think we'll be allowed out of the Citadel again and go on another mission? We're allowed to do whatever we want out there and I hate all these—rules."

Charlie smirks at this, she didn't like being told what to do all the time. "I think Sue's still mad that we didn't find them. It wasn't our fault though. There wasn't any sign of them and we went pretty far out this time." Not far enough to see the monsters that supposedly outside of the walls but they had gone farther than usual.

"Of course it wasn't our fault. They were never there," Quinn said slightly irked at the situation. It wasn't fair that they were getting in trouble. "I didn't smell anything and I know that _you_ didn't smell anything. Maybe they—defected or something." They hadn't bothered to share this information with the rest of their squad. Their senses simply weren't as good and it was almost impossible to write in a report that they just knew that they weren't there. The unenhanced people didn't get it either and they had gotten in plenty of trouble for that over the years. Quinn shrugs her shoulders there's no point in worrying about it now. Sue would get over it she always did. "They'll probably show up eventually."

Charlie nods at this, "Probably. People don't just disappear," Charlie says as she tilts her head to the door that leads into the building that opens. A pleased smile crosses her face when Brittany comes up balancing a tray filled with food and what smells like bacon. She moves quickly and goes to help Brittany with the tray taking it from her and moving back to sit beside her sister. "It's all our favorites Quinn!" Charlie said.

Brittany holds her own bagged lunch and shakes her head as she watches the two of them dig in. She feels guilty for trying to bribe them she even feels guilty for wanting to ask them this question but she's so tired of Frannie being made to feel less than. She takes a seat across from them and crosses her legs. "Did you two scale the building again?" Brittany asks and Quinn nods at her as she stuffs her mouth filled with the bacon sandwiches that she made for them. She should have known but they weren't allowed in the building anymore. She sighs and watches them eat and drink. "Are you two going to be in the War games?" This causes both of them to stop eating and look at her, confusion on their faces. "No one's told you? Frannie told me last night, that Sue and Will are fighting for resources again and Sue challenged him to some war games. I thought you would have heard about it by now."

Quinn swallowed and frowned and turned to Charlie who gave her a brief nod. This was probably why Sue had called the inspection. Which probably meant that they had got in trouble for skipping again. Even though they _never_ ever went to the inspections anyway. They were boring, they did enough boring things as it was. "We're probably not allowed to. We were never allowed to play games with anyone else." Quinn says with a shrug.

Brittany makes a face at that statement. She knew that feeling well, she had always been too weird to play with the other kids. Her mind just worked differently. She'd find some games to play with Quinn and Charlie together. They'd like that she thought. "Frannie says it's a waste of resources and that you shouldn't be playing games and betting on resources like that." Brittany explains to them.

Charlie's nose crinkles as she chews. "Are you two fighting again? Because you don't smell like sex." Charlie tilts her head at her twin. "Quinn smells like sex, she had sex last night and she still smells like her." Charlie asks bluntly causing Brittany to flush and look away.

"We're not fighting—Frannie was upset last night and I needed to comfort her—without sex." Brittany explains to the twins slowly. She doesn't see any concern for Frannie on their faces and she sighs, at least there's no judgement. They never judged her, they never thought she was weird they just didn't understand and it was easier to explain it to them then it was other people. "Your father—was mean to her yesterday and she made Frannie feel really small and I don't like that. I don't like it when she cries and I don't like it when she's upset and I was wondering if you could—do something about it?" Brittany asks biting her lip as she watches the twins.

"Are you asking us to kill him?" Charlie asks taking another bite of her sandwich and reaching for another one.

"Frannie will be super mad at me if you kill him. But he makes her feel so bad and he's part of the reason that Frannie doesn't want us to be out in the public together. Because of how Russell is—and I want to protect her but I'm not strong enough."

Quinn chews slowly, thinking about Brittany's request. She had no real problem killing problem killing their father. It's not like he raised them, in fact the last time they had seen him. They had been forced to take pictures with him and pretend to be his good little pet monsters. But she heard every last mean thing that he said about them and she didn't particularly like him. "We can kill him for you Brittany. But we'd get in a lot of trouble. Like serious trouble, I don't think people will be happy and they might exile us or try and kill us."

Brittany's face fell at this, she didn't want that either. She just wanted him to stop being mean. "Then don't do anything, I just want him to stop making Frannie feel bad all the time. Like she isn't good enough," Brittany explained. She sighs and eats her own lunch and looks at the twins who still seem to be thinking about doing it anyway. "I mean it—please don't do anything. I don't want to lose you two. I can't lose all three of you," Brittany said. She didn't doubt for a second that Frannie would break up with her and she'd lose her then she'd be alone. She waits until they nod and murmur their promises before she relaxes. She smiles at them and thinks of an idea that might get them to like Frannie. "How about we play some games later tonight?" She offers. "You and Charlie can be a team and me and Frannie can be a team and we'll make it a party."

Quinn's nose crinkles, "Does Frannie have to come?"

"Yes that way she can see that all because you're modded doesn't mean that you're monsters." Brittany lectures ignoring the face that Quinn and Charlie are giving her. "You can invite Puck and Sam and Mike and all of your friends and I'll bring the snacks and the alcohol. Board games are _really_ fun and you'll like it." Brittany explains.

"More bacon?" Charlie asks and Brittany nods. "Alright we'll play games with you and Frannie tonight but you can't forget the bacon."

Brittany grins wildly, it would be fun. Certainly a lot more fun than going to some stuffy dinner with Frannie's parents.


	5. Chapter 5

“I have said that I don’t want to do this right?” Frannie says speaking up as they walked through the lobby of her sister’s apartment. She had her hands full carrying an obscene amount of food and alcohol. “I am also very against the idea of giving them _alcohol._ It’s going to get us both killed Brittany.”

Brittany hummed from where she was walking a few steps ahead of Frannie, “You said that we could do whatever I wanted tonight, and this is what I wanted to do. You _promised_ and it’d be nice if you and your sisters got along. They can help you with your campaign.”

Frannie made a face, Brittany had tricked her. She had thought that they were going to be having sex. That had been the implication, an implication she had been looking forward to. Finding out that the games that Brittany had alluded to were board games instead of sexual games wasn’t even a complete loss. She _liked_ playing board games with Brittany. What she wasn’t _thrilled_ with was the idea that they needed to go play board games with her sisters. She had never even taken a step into their apartment, and whenever they were in the same building with her she broke out into hives. “I don’t _want_ them to help me with my campaign. I don’t think that genetically modified soldiers are necessary.” Frannie says reminding Brittany of her position. It was something that they disagreed on, but Brittany didn’t _understand_ just how dangerous they were. Even if she was right and they were kind to her all it took was them losing control _once_ and they could accidentally hurt her.

Brittany makes a bit of a face as they get off the elevator. “Frannie you _promised_ to be nice.”

“I did no such thing,” Frannie said immediately. “I’m _never_ nice.” She reminds Brittany who rolls her eyes at this statement. “I’m not!”

Brittany decides that she’s just going to ignore Frannie’s protests, this would be good for her and the twins. If it worked out then she wouldn’t have to go to those stuffy Fabray family dinner’s anymore. She knocked on the door to the twin’s apartment. It would be so much quicker to simply break into their apartment like she usually did but Frannie was such a stickler for rules and decorum and she was sure that she’d have a heart attack.

It’s Quinn who finally opens the door and pauses trying to remember what Brittany had made her practice saying. She smiles at Brittany and turns to Frannie staring at her. If it wasn’t for the food that Frannie was currently carrying she would have just pulled Brittany inside and closed the door on Frannie’s face. She could smell the fear, hear the increased heartbeat as Frannie’s fight or flight response kicked in. “I’m so glad you could make it. Please come in.” Quinn says flatly. She moves aside so that they can enter the apartment and Brittany flashes her a huge smile.

Frannie stares at Quinn suspiciously for a long moment before frowning slightly when Brittany tugs on her arm pulling her inside the twin’s apartment for the first time. She expects to see dead bodies and skulls littering the floor but the place is surprisingly neat and she looks over her shoulder at Quinn making sure she’s not planning anything. “So when are the rest of your fr—” Brittany gives her a harsh look and Frannie slaps on her politician’s smile. “Friends, when are your other friends coming?”

Charlie tilts her head, “We don’t have any. Just Brittany,” Charlie responds moving into Frannie’s space ignoring her tensing up as she takes the bags of food from her and places it on the counter opening it, to get at the food.

Frannie turns to Brittany giving her a look. She had promised that there would be less monstrous people around. Brittany smiles a bit and pats her hand. “What about the rest of your squad?” Brittany asks.

“Mike’s mad at us because we didn’t go to our inspection,” Quinn supplies for Brittany. It was so much easier to avoid Mike when he was annoyed. He wasn’t at all confrontational, which meant they got to do whatever they wanted. “Sam and Puck are probably fucking right now.” Quinn says with a shrug. It was very much against the rules to sleep with members of your own squad, but she wasn’t quite sure if anyone besides her and Charlie knew. Mike certainly didn’t say anything and he was a stickler for rules which they broke all the time.

“Did you bring more chocolate?” Charlie asked rooting through the bags, pulling out bottles of Brittany’s special brew and pushing them across the island to Quinn who smirked and popped the top.

Frannie blinked watching as the twins began to pick and choose what to eat, “We brought enough food to feed a family of three for at least three days,” she says, Brittany had said that this was a party, which was the only reason she had even agreed to such a huge amount of food.

Brittany bit her lip not quite sure how to explain that they had only really brought enough food for the two of them to eat for dinner. “Their metabolisms are insanely fast Frannie. They _need_ a lot of food Frannie just to function.”

It was enough food to feed her for about a week if she rationed it quickly. “They aren’t _doing_ anything,” she whispers loudly to Brittany. “They’re draining our resources and they haven’t been protecting us. We haven’t seen the 149 in years let alone any monsters—in _years_.”

“She does know we can hear her right?” Quinn asks Charlie who turns to look at Frannie who flushes and looks away.

Brittany immediately intervenes before an argument can break out between the two of them, putting her body between Frannie and the twins. “So I was thinking that we should start with the card games first. I can teach you and I promise I won’t start counting cards.” Brittany said smiling at Frannie who was about to say something. She turns to the twins who have food stuffed in their mouths and are looking at her. “Do you know how to play Poker?”

“Puck tried to teach us, but we really didn’t want to see him naked,” Charlie replied. She pauses for a moment and turns to Frannie. “We really don’t want to see Frannie naked either.”

“You don’t _have_ to get naked if you lose a hand, we’re not playing strip poker,” Brittany said, trying not to laugh. Of course Puck would try and trick them into getting naked.

“The feeling is mutual by the way. I don’t want to see you two naked either. ” Frannie mutters. She hesitates for a second and looks at the twins and then Brittany—she hadn’t said anything about seeing Brittany naked. A flare of protective jealousy runs through Frannie and she puts a protective arm around Brittany’s waist.

Quinn flicks her eyes to the arm wrapped around Brittany’s waist and tilts her head toward Charlie who looks equally as puzzled. If they had wanted Brittany they would have simply taken her a long time ago, she was exceptionally persuasive when it came to that. They both were, but Brittany had never expressed any interest. She rolls her eyes, she’d deal with it later after she finished eating.

Rachel didn’t exactly _know_ she was going to break it to Santana that the Citadel was _not_ everything that she imagined. That there were still people who were _just_ like Finn lurking around. She was right about everything in the Citadel having a price and she was stuck. She didn’t even _like_ the twins. Spying on them would require getting closer to them and there was no way that she could do that without Santana quickly figuring out that something was wrong. And if anyone _caught her_ , Santana would also face consequences. She _had_ to tell Santana she just didn’t quite know _how_ to tell her. This was going to crush her. She had been _excited_ to go to work, she had been picked up and everything by the rest of the Argon squad who hadn’t even been that bad. She bit her lip and sighed rubbing her head, no matter what decision she made or how she told Santana—it was going to affect Santana. The door to the front door twisted and Rachel turned hoping that it wasn’t Will again, but it was only Santana who was carrying a bag of groceries.

“Sorry I’m late Rachel, I got you some clothes and I got some groceries and things that we needed. I was talking to Sam and Puck and they said I could ask for a car, because I don’t live with the rest of them. I mean we might not get it but—still it would make shopping for food easier. I got my military identification as well which means that we don’t have to worry about rations anymore, we can get as much food as we want whenever we want. But they’re still very strict about waste so we have to be conscious of that.” Santana said as she kicked off her boots and tried to juggle all the bags. She’d even got more cleaning supplies. Even with her strength it was still, difficult to juggle all the bags at once.

Rachel watched as Santana practically dumped everything onto their small kitchen island and began to put things away. “Not to high Santana, you know I can’t reach the top shelf,” Rachel said moving to help, Santana shoots her a playful smile and Rachel smacks her arm gently.

Santana moved things down to the lower shelves, and looked over at Rachel, “I didn’t manage to talk to Sue today about you she was having meetings all day. There getting ready for some war game simulation, everyone was talking about it all day. But I might be able to see her soon—did the recruiter come? I mean if you can hold off on properly signing up I’ll make sure I see her tomorrow first thing.” Santana promised. “I’ll talk to Mike to if I can’t—he was in a meeting all day with her.”

Rachel frowned ever so slightly and sighed, it was best to just put it all on the table. “I didn’t exactly get a recruiter to recruit me into the army. I met the Commander of the unenhanced army, he wanted me to join and I thought I was very polite in declining but he said that I didn’t have much of a choice.” Santana turned to her sharply. “He knows that you weren’t modded illegally and he implied that since you clearly went AWOL that he’d send you back to wherever you came from. He wants me to _spy_ on you—well not you. He doesn’t think you’re important but he wants me to spy on the twins and I guess the Argon squad and the other genetically modified soldiers and report back to him, I agreed to it because I didn’t know what else to do. I didn’t want him to send you back Santana.” Rachel looks at her and reaches for her arm. “I _did_ what I had to do.” She always did what she had to do, whether it was being Finn’s personal whore or whatever else was required of them she did it.

It’s a hint of bitterness that makes Santana stop for a moment and turn to Rachel. “What was I supposed to do? Kill them all and then what? We try and be a two person caravan fighting of slavers everywhere we went? What if we ran into someone else like me and they killed me? I kept you just as safe. You only had to deal with Finn. You _only_ ever had to deal with Finn. I feel guilty but my hands were tied—out there it’s safety in numbers—and even that’s not enough.”

“The twins _dismantled_ Finn’s entire operation in minutes—you mean to tell me that you couldn’t—” Rachel said, months she had heard her with Finn. Heard him abuse her and use her, and she hadn’t lifted a finger. Yes she had saved her from some of Finn’s other men. Strando had cornered her more than once when Finn wasn’t around, but still.

“The twins had experimental and very dangerous modifications done to them. Charlie _kicked my ass._ If you remember they probably would have left you there to die, if you hadn’t managed to convince Quinn to take you along. If I wasn’t useful, they probably would have killed us _both_.” Santana says. “I’m not strong enough to take on the world. And I’m _not_ that person anymore. The person who is willing to try.”

Rachel looks at Santana, she doesn’t like it in the Citadel. There’s too many people, and she needs to find a use. She doesn’t know what she’s good at. Not anymore, she doesn’t want to be another _whore_ for someone else. She doesn’t want to have to do things because someone is making her. She doesn’t want to work for _Will_ of all people. Getting mad at Santana about the past was _pointless._ “So what are we going to do about Will?”

Santana was quiet for a moment, “We need to tell _someone_. Maybe if we talk to the twins? I mean—maybe they know how to get in touch with the Commander. I mean she knows where they live and if we tell them they might know what to do?” Santana suggests. This isn’t something that can wait and she still doesn’t have a phone just yet so she can’t call any of the Argon squad to let them know.

Rachel’s face twisted, the idea of telling the people that she was supposed to be spying on that she was supposed to be spying on them seemed like a terrible idea. Especially when she had seen the twins annoyed. “Santana I don’t think that’s a good idea—maybe I should just—”

“Rachel—I don’t like the Commander and yeah she can be kind of a bitch and she’s batshit crazy but all I’ve heard today is how she has our backs. She more than kept her promise to me—I don’t have to fight and you should see the garage they’re giving me.”

“I’m not against telling your Commander Santana—I’m against telling the _twins_. They’re not exactly—stable.” Rachel points out. “Last night—remember?”

“What choice do we have? The longer we keep this to ourselves the guiltier we’ll look,” Santana said with a sigh. “Don’t worry. I don’t think that they’ll be freaked out that you’re supposed to be spying on them, I’m sure that they’ve had people looking in on them and watching their every move they make this might not be that surprising to them.” Santana said. Though this was all dependent on whether they were sober. She didn’t think that she had seen them sober since she got back.

Rachel sighs and nods, they don’t really have much of a choice and she knows this. “Let’s get this over with.” She mumbles under her breath. Hopefully this time Quinn wouldn’t be walking around topless having sex with everything that moved. She moves to the doorway and opens the door with Santana following her across the hall where she knocks on the door. Santana following her closely.

It takes a moment before Brittany opens the door a bottle to her lips, the sound of Frannie arguing with the twins in the background. It was going well—as well as it possibly could be despite the fact that Frannie was currently losing every hand. The twins were excellent on calling bluffs, they had even called her bluffs. She smiles at the two women in front of her. “Hi, I’m Brittany.”

Rachel stared at the tall blonde and glanced at Santana, she sighed she _so_ wasn’t in the mood to deal with another one of Quinn’s lovers, but she smiles. “I’m Rachel and this is Santana, we live across the hall and we need to talk to one of the twins.”

Brittany’s grin is massive as she immediately shakes both Rachel’s hand and Santana’s. “The twins didn’t tell me that they had new neighbors!” It had been years since anyone had lived on this floor with them. Everyone was far too afraid and from what she understood the twins made for terrible neighbors. “Do you want to come play poker with us?” Brittany said taking a step aside, and ushering them inside.

“Poker?” Santana asks and looks at where there were three bodies sitting around a table, several stacks of cookies and food were parked in front of the twins.

“You’re _cheating!”_ Frannie hissed at her sisters. She was _excellent_ at poker, she had an excellent game face and yet the twins could _always_ tell when she was bluffing and when she had a good hand. Even Brittany wasn’t having much luck against them and they seemed to work in tandem like a team. It was supposed to be every person for themselves. Yet they were hoarding the candy and treats that Brittany had made in the lab. Frannie lets out a frustrated groan when her sisters flash her smug smirks. If anything she hated them even more.

“Quinn, Charlie—you don’t mind that I invited your neighbors,” Brittany said causing the two of them to pull their attention away from irritating Frannie. She really did hate to lose, well there were times when Frannie _loved_ losing, but it wasn’t time for that now.

Quinn’s eyes fell on Rachel, “The girl who tried to kill me,” Quinn repeated and smirked. “Also the girl who likes looking at my breasts.”

Rachel’s mouth dropped at this and she resisted the urge to storm up to Quinn and give her a piece of her mind. “This coming from my _abductor_ ,” she snips at Quinn.

Santana sighs and places a hand on Rachel’s shoulder flicking her eyes to Quinn who seemed amused by Rachel’s presence. They aren’t here to _start_ something, they’re here to tell the twins what’s up. She flicks her eyes to Charlie for a moment who seems to be watching her intently. She shrugs it off, they were both highly unstable individuals. “Look we’re not here to fight or play poker—we’re just here to talk to the two of you.”

Charlie interest in Santana immediately wanes after that statement and she picks up her drink and takes a sip of it. “About what?”

Santana glances over at Brittany and Frannie who were studying them clearly, “It’s about—work?” Santana offers hoping that would catch their attention but they both just give her a look. “It’s _classified_?”

Quinn tilts her head back to Brittany and Frannie, studying them and then looking at the few treats that they had left. She doubted that they had anything _that_ classified to tell them. “Brittany knows how to keep a secret.” Quinn said with a shrug.

Brittany nods and zips her mouth closed. “And you can trust Frannie. She’s a politician,” Brittany throws in. “Maybe Frannie can help you.”

Frannie rolled her eyes, she doubted it. It was like Brittany casually forgot that she wanted to rid the city of all genetically modified soldiers. It would mean more resources for everyone. Maybe they could look to expanding the city slowly. “I can’t help in mod affairs.”

“It’s not about mod affairs not really, Rachel was supposed to meet a recruiter for the army today—because they signed her up for the army and—well it wasn’t a recruiter that came to see Rachel.” Santana says quickly. The twins seemed to know some pretty powerful people. The Commander, a politician and whoever Brittany was.

Quinn frowned and looked at Rachel, wondering what she was thinking by signing up for the army. “You’re not a soldier,” she stated bluntly. “Get another job.”

Rachel scowled at her, “I would _try_ , except I didn’t meet with a recruiter. I met—the Commander—not _your_ Commander, Will. I met Will.”

“Will _Schuester_ personally came to your door and tried to recruit you?” Frannie asked frowning turning to Rachel and crinkling her nose. _“Why_? He doesn’t do personal recruiting he kisses ass, and tries to get resources taken away from the enhanced army. What would make you special enough for him to come down here—across the hall from these two _lunatics_ and try and recruit you?”

“Frannie!” Brittany admonished.

Rachel looked at the twins who now seemed slightly curious, “It’s because you two brought me into the city—everyone’s been treating me like I’m special or that I’m important. And I can’t tell them _why_ you brought me into the city—so why did you?”

Everyone turned to look at the twins. Charlie shrugged. “I wanted to leave her behind or kill her.” She points to Santana. “She can fight. Which is why I’m confused as to _why_ she’s wasting her time as a mechanic.”

Santana freezes and turns to Charlie, “ _Excuse me.”_

“You’re excused,” Charlie said with a hum taking another sip of her drink.

Santana looks like she’s about to get angry and Quinn rolls her eyes and turns to Rachel. “You were loud, rude and bossy. And you tried to kill me. I was amused,” Quinn said picking up one of the cookies that she won and ignoring the very reddish purplish hue that had crossed Rachel’s face.

Brittany looked at the twins and then at their new neighbors and then back at the twins. A huge smile crossing her face at the possibilities. She didn’t say anything but squeezed Frannie’s leg tightly causing her girlfriend to turn to look at her. Frannie shook her head and turned to Quinn. “You _brought_ her here because she _amused_ you? That’s why you allowed someone to _cut the line_?”

“Yes.” Quinn said with a shrug as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “She should be happy that she doesn’t have to be _out there_ anymore. She probably wouldn’t have lasted a day.”

“Well because you decided that my life was _so amusing_ , Will thinks that I’m someone _special_ and he wants me to spy on you and Sue!” Rachel said stomping her foot angrily. It was her life, Quinn was mocking _her life_ picking at it and she didn’t like it at all. Her life wasn’t some sort of joke and she wasn’t some sort of _jester_ for Quinn’s amusement. “He _threatened me_ said if I didn’t do it he’d make it impossible for me to find a job here and then he threatened to send Santana back!”

Santana made a face at this, “Look we thought we should tell the Commander—but it’s not like _we_ know how to contact her and we thought you would. I haven’t gotten my issued communication device yet—or I would have called Mike or Puck or Sam.”

“Well he doesn’t have the authority to just draft unenhanced citizens which thanks to _Quinn_ , you are.” Frannie said and rubbed her head.

Charlie sighed, “I’ll call the Commander—hide the alcohol Quinn you know how she gets when we drink and I’m able to move my fingers again. I don’t want her to break my other wrist.” She pauses and gives Quinn a look. “Those are _my cookies_ , you can’t eat them.” Quinn rolls her eyes and nods and Charlie walks out of the room to go get a message to Sue.

Santana looked at Quinn who had immediately pilfered one of Charlie’s cookies and was eating it, “Why aren’t you more upset?”

“That someone wants to spy on us?” Quinn turns to Frannie. “People have been spying on us our entire life, it’s the only reason we’re even _on_ a squad. So someone can report our movements and determine how dangerous we are, and if we’ve gone—what’s the word you use all the time Frannie? Rabid? That’s it.”

Frannie flushes angrily but doesn’t say anything instead turning to look at Brittany. “I think it’s time we get out of here.”

Brittany pouts and looks around. “Frannie—aren’t you the least bit curious what Will is up to? You said he’s been getting pretty close to Russell lately. Maybe this can be your way in?”

Frannie hesitates for a moment and looks at Quinn who has picked up another one of Charlie’s cookies and was eating it. “Fine. I do want to know. Maybe if I can outmaneuver him he’ll finally pay attention to the fact that I’m not a child.”

Sue Sylvester crossed her legs as she listened to Rachel’s story carefully. Her face an expressionless mask as she flicked her eyes between Rachel and Santana, they already seemed to be far more trouble than they were worth, and she was debating what to do. Though there was something that was bothering her. She had expected this, it was war after all and knowing your enemies troop movements was critical. “I want you to think _hard_ and tell me what he said—exactly. Word for word. Don’t leave anything out.”

Rachel rubbed her arm, all attention in the room, she didn’t know how many time she had to tell the story. She wanted a solution, she wanted assurances that nothing would happen to them. “Basically he said that you’d never care about someone unenhanced like me. Then he suggested that you wouldn’t have any power left in the Citadel. How you’d be able to take in more refugees without any more genetically modified soldiers left in the city.”

Sue frowned and looked at Frannie who was sitting with her arms crossed, she wasn’t thrilled about Frannie’s presence. The Fabray’s had been a pain in her ass for _years_. “You do realize Frannie, that you simply don’t have the votes to dismantle the program and even if you did you do realize that the citizens feel _safe_ with us in the city.”

“William’s not _wrong_. This wouldn’t be a problem if there was a threat, but right now you’re basically standing around scratching your asses and your soldiers are a massive drain on the resources. You get special treatment and you’re not doing anything that can’t be done by an unenhanced person.” Frannie argues back. “But you’re right we don’t have the votes, even if I personally believe that the lot of you are one step up from rabid dogs, we can’t get rid of you. The ramifications of getting rid of you is also problematic because I doubt you’d go quietly.”

Sue smiles at Frannie, “You certainly won’t swing the court of public opinion onto your side, we are necessary even if you don’t believe that. So the question is what does William have that he thinks will get rid of me? What does your father have planned?”

“Your guess is as good a mine,” Frannie answered truthfully. The last time her father had thought himself above the law the twins had been born. “But I would very like to know exactly what my father has planned.”

Rachel shifted at the tension in the room, she wasn’t exactly thrilled with being in the middle of some political power play. “So what does that mean for me—and Santana?” She asked trying to keep her voice strong as both Frannie and Sue turned to her. She didn’t like the fact that she felt small and insignificant in their presence. They had both _done_ something they both had power.

“You give William what he wants, even if he _knew_ how I planned to move my troops where they’d be located and everything else, it still doesn’t fix the disadvantage he has. His numbers mean _nothing_ , if his troops aren’t trained properly. They aren’t trained properly and Will has chosen bottom of the barrel people to fill his ranks. People who are terrified of my troops for good reason.” Sue said dismissively. Sue turns to Frannie, promptly forgetting about Rachel’s existence for now. “Do you have plans to go running to _daddy_ to save you?”

Frannie narrowed her eyes at Sue catching the insult, “Of course not. I want Will to _prove_ to everyone that we don’t _need_ you. Resources need to be allocated properly, and I think you are a drain on the resources. I’ll see how this plays out, without involving my father. However I am concerned about Will’s clear abuse of power—and I do want to look into what my father and Will are working on.”

Rachel frowned, she didn’t like being ignored. Nor did she like the idea of being dismissed so casually. “I am not doing it.”

Sue stopped and turned to Rachel who crossed her arms over her chest. Sue studied Rachel for a moment she didn’t have any information on her. She didn’t care to have any information on Rachel and this was a disadvantage. “Excuse me?”

Rachel frowned, “I am not going to do it. I didn’t want to come to this stupid Citadel. I have had a shitty week. _He threatened_ my friend. He threatened her to get me to submit and I don’t want to _submit_ anymore. I’m tired of owing my head to bullies. And you’re _just as bad_ as he is. You _forced_ Santana into this—”

“Rachel—” Santana begins but Rachel is not hearing her.

“You forced her into this and you just expected her to do what you say. You made the same threats that he did in your own way and you’re certainly no better than him. He was right he said you wouldn’t care about me because I’m unenhanced—and I’m powerless but I’m not _weak_.” Rachel takes a breath. “So I’m going to tell him what I’m telling you now. Get a _different_ pawn.”

Sue studied Rachel for a long moment and then turned to Quinn, wondering why she brought Rachel into the Citadel. She didn’t have time for defiance, she was so used to bending people to her will. “Everyone in this Citadel _has_ a use. We don’t have the luxury for temper tantrums. We don’t have the luxury for a lot of things.” Sue is quiet for a moment. “Before this, you were a slave. I assume that you were used sexually because that’s what happens outside of these walls. Whether you willingly sold your body off for food and protection, or you it was taken from you is hardly my concern.” Sue said dismissively ignoring the anger and embarrassment on Rachel’s face. “Santana presented you and her as a _packaged_ deal, and if you renege on the agreement then you two will be stripped of your citizenship and be sent back out there.” Sue smiles at Rachel pleasantly. “You’re not particularly strong and you’re irritating, someone will either kill you, or you will find that being a whore is not the furthest you can sink. The choice is completely up to you.”

Rachel stared at Sue, her fists clenching helplessly, she hated this feeling she _hated_ being powerless. She hated that people could rub it in her face that she was weak. She didn’t like having her choices confined to impossible decisions. “What happens when he finds out? What they’ll do to Santana is far worse than anything that Finn did to me—and what about me? What happens to me then?”

“Santana isn’t going _anywhere_ no matter what William attempts to do. I protect my own. But if you two want protection. I suppose I can assign you my best soldiers.” Sue said ignoring the sharp looks the twins were giving her. She needed to punish them somehow for their behavior recently and forcing them onto guard duty seemed like a perfect fit. Plus it would help make Rachel’s job easier if she was seen spending time with them. “Quinn. Charlie, you’re now on guard duty for the _both_ of them until further notice.” She ignored the groans from the two of them.

Rachel turned to the twins who looked displeased with this news. “Them?” She says pointing at the twins. She swallows, she can’t spend time around them. She doesn’t even really like them. “They kidnapped me. Don’t you have someone else?”

Santana closed her eyes knowing what Sue was going to say next. “Beggars can’t be choosers,” Sue responded bluntly.

Rachel’s mouth slammed shut and she looked at the twins, maybe she should have just worked for Will _without_ telling anyone. She twitched angrily and then just did the mature thing instead of yelling she just wheeled around and stormed out.

Sue raised a brow at this and tilted her head to Santana who was about to run after her, “Sit down, we need to discuss some things.” Sue said and looked at the twins.

Quinn turned to Charlie giving her a look. Charlie responded with one of her own, crinkling her nose. “I _told_ you that she was _your_ responsibility. So _you_ go after her. Next time pick someone that can defend herself.” Charlie throws in as she shakes her head. She was sure she had made it clear to Quinn that she hadn’t wanted to bring Rachel to the Citadel.

Quinn rolls her eyes and lets out an irritated huff. She didn’t want to _guard her_ , she wanted this to be amusing and it wasn’t anymore. She moved after Rachel quickly catching up to her waiting at the elevator. She was rewarded for her efforts with a harsh glare from Rachel. She promptly ignored it, and thought about the fact that she hadn’t told Charlie not to eat her winnings from earlier.

“My life isn’t supposed to be some big _joke_ to you—” Rachel begins choking on the words in anger.

Quinn turns to Rachel as if finally remembering that she’s there. There’s nothing that she can do about her snacks except maybe pick Rachel back up and carry her back to her apartment. She weighed next to nothing. “You don’t know the city and I think Charlie’s eating my cookies so let’s just go back to my apartment where I can watch you and my snacks.” Quinn said. Rachel gave her a withering look and Quinn rolled her eyes and scooped her up and walked back to her apartment, ignoring the kicking and Rachel trying to pull away.

Rachel finally gives up as they approach their apartment and she looks away. “I just don’t want to be _used_ anymore—I’m so tired of being—weak,” she mumbles mostly to herself feeling the hopeless tears welling up.

Quinn glances down at Rachel for a moment, not quite sure what to do with a girl who’s crying. She’s tempted to drop her and run. “Next time,” Quinn says after a moment putting Rachel down on her feet so she can walk. “Don’t wait for someone to hand you a gun. Take the gun and shoot,” Quinn said as she opened the door to her apartment. She pauses after she enters the apartment and looks at Rachel. “Also don’t waste your bullets on a corpse.” Brittany had said that being helpful was important when people were crying. She looks at Rachel for a moment and then does what Brittany does and pats Rachel on the head. Hoping that the advice sticks. It was good advice.

Rachel stares at Quinn, confusion at how—wise that sounded and she swallows and nods. She wouldn’t wait and waste her life waiting for someone to give her what she wanted—she’d take her freedom herself. That had to be what Quinn was talking about in her own strange way. “Thanks Quinn.”

Quinn nods and turns her attention back into the house where her twin was sitting with her winnings and eating her treats. She scowls at her. She _knew it_.

Brittany was patient, she waited until they were back in their own apartment where she was nearly certain the twins couldn’t hear her. She needed to test how good their hearing was in a controlled setting one day so she’d be relatively sure. But it was probable enough that they couldn’t hear her and she let out a loud squeal hugging Frannie tightly much to her surprise. “I can’t believe it! The twins _like people_.”

Frannie blinked at Brittany, “What are you talking about? The twins are the same as always—barely functional human beings.”

Brittany rolled her eyes, “Well they don’t _know_ that they like them—but they do. I know these things,” She said with a smile and she was going to make it happen. She just needed to figure out how. Maybe she could design an experiment that would help speed the process along.


	6. Chapter 6

"I think you should look after Rachel tonight," Quinn informed Charlie as she entered her twin's room watching as she put on some dark jeans. "It's been two weeks and it's not fair that you get to have all the fun." Quinn crossed her arms over her chest. Charlie got to go to Combustion every single night, and have fun and she had brought back people as well. The pheromones were _killing_ her. Rachel didn't want to go to Combustion which meant that she had to stay home and watch her. Watching her was boring, she didn't do much and she didn't want to have sex to pass the time. "Sue said you aren't allowed to fight with anyone until after the War Games tomorrow anyway—so you should let me go and have sex and you can watch Rachel."

Charlie flicked her eyes to Quinn not feeling sorry for her in the slightest. "No. Sue said that I couldn't fight with anyone in the War Games, she never said that I couldn't fight. And if I'm not fighting then I'm going to bring someone home Quinn. She's _your_ responsibility." Charlie went back to putting on her boots when Quinn stomped her foot and scowled. Charlie paused for a moment and then looked at Quinn's feet and then the horrified expression on Quinn's face. She tilts her head, Quinn hadn't stomped her foot since she was a child. In fact the only person she _knew_ still stomped her feet was Rachel. Perhaps Quinn _had_ been spending far too much time with Rachel. That didn't mean that she was giving up her party time for her. "Just carry her to Combustion and tell her to stay in the corner and not get in trouble."

"Is that what you do for Santana?" Quinn asks thinking about it. Rachel would scream and kick and it hurt her ears, no matter how much she tried to tune her out. But if Rachel was in the corner, then she could _still_ have sex and watch her at the same time.

"Santana _can_ fight. I don't know why she tells people she can't, or she works on those stupid cars all the time," Charlie responds. She wasn't bound like Quinn in taking care of someone who was fragile. But it was frustrating for Santana to pretend that _she was_ fragile. She wondered if maybe she simply shoved Santana into the ring tonight she'd be entertained. No one wanted to fight her and she was so bored, Santana needed to stop being silly and fight her again. She had even promised not to break her ribs again.

"Just punch her, not that hard but hard enough that she starts fighting back," Quinn suggests. "That's what I do when I want you to fight me."

"I was going to, but Brittany said that I can't just go around hitting people all the time and she told me that I shouldn't push Santana to do what she doesn't want her to do, just because _I_ want her to do it." Charlie makes a face at that. Brittany had way too many rules and she didn't like it. She was also showing up more often, which was good because it meant more food.

"Brittany said that I should try and do things with Rachel—but Rachel doesn't want to have sex, or fight and she doesn't do anything interesting," Quinn said irritation in her voice. Brittany had been weird lately, but there was food, and maybe she was fighting with Frannie again but hadn't said anything yet. The next time they saw Frannie they'd hold her over the wall. Quinn looks at Charlie for a moment as she works on the other boot and has an internal debate. "I'll bring Rachel—but how do we make sure she _doesn't_ just storm out? I can't just put a leash on her and drag her around. I ran that by Brittany and she yelled at me."

Charlie's nose crinkled, "When did Brittany get so bossy? Why are we doing what Brittany says again?" Charlie asks Quinn.

"The bacon," Quinn reminds Charlie who nods. There was a lot of bacon these days, and it seemed like every time they did something that Brittany wanted them to do she'd have more bacon at the ready for them.

Charlie leans back, "You could—ask?" She frowns at this, they never asked anyone for anything they just did what they wanted to do. Most of the time. Sue didn't let them kill people whenever they wanted to, something about how they were supposed to protect the citizens in the Citadel not terrorize them. It was complicated because sometimes Sue _wanted_ them to terrorize people. Like tomorrow they were supposed to terrorize the soldiers and find capture William Schuster's and his top brass. Sue had stressed the no killing over and over again for the past two weeks. They weren't allowed to maim anyone either.

Quinn tilts her head, "And if she says no?"

"Then do it anyway," Charlie said as if it were obvious.

Quinn nods, because it sounds like very solid advice, and she goes to go get dressed before heading across the hall and knocking on the door. She waits for Rachel to open the door and smiles when she does. "We're going to Combustion." She smiles at Rachel who stares at her.

"I've told you _no_ , I am not going to Combustion. I'm _supposed_ to be keeping a low profile and the last time I went there a fight nearly broke out," Rachel said crossing her arms over her chest. They'd had this conversation before and she sees Quinn frown at this. "Sue said that you had to watch me—and make sure that Will didn't come back. I don't know what else he wants. I gave him everything that Sue wanted me to give him—but it doesn't seem to be enough."

Quinn frown deepens, she's saying words again and not doing what she wants her to do. It's frustrating. Everyone but Sue did what she wanted them to do. Even Mike eventually did what she wanted him to do. Except for babysit. Mike was more afraid of Sue than he was of her. "Then we're having sex. I haven't had sex in two weeks and it's because of you so fix it."

" _NO!"_ Rachel says not bothering to look at Santana who had come out. Santana had tried to get her to come to. To meet everyone but she didn't _want_ to go back there. It wasn't unenhanced friendly, something which Santana acknowledged. "I am _not_ having sex with you!"

"But you enjoy staring at my breasts," Quinn said still utterly confused by this. "Girls who do that always _want_ to have sex with me."

"I stare because you like to _walk around without a shirt on_ —like—like some _animal_ or something!" Rachel said in a huffy tone.

Quinn tilts her head and looks at Santana for a moment, "Do you not want to sleep with me because I'm modified?"

"I don't want to sleep with you because you're a dick," Rachel snaps at Quinn and tries to close the door in Quinn's face, she's rewarded with Quinn stopping the movement with her hand. She pushes against Quinn's hand even knowing that it's useless and decides to give up and storm back inside. Stupid Genetically Modified humans and their stupid freakish strength.

"She can't go dressed like that Quinn." Charlie says after a moment turning to look at her twin.

"Look—she doesn't want to go. Maybe you two should just lay off," Santana said crossing her arms and standing in front of Rachel's doorway barring the entrance.

Quinn moved forward to move Santana out of the way when Charlie grabbed her arm. Quinn turned back to her twin who had tilted her head and was watching Santana for a moment. "Fight me, right now and you and Quinn can go to combustion and I'll watch the short bossy one."

"You _know_ you're strong, you know you had experimental and dangerous modifications done. You've already beat me and _broke my ribs_ while doing it. So what the _hell_ is your deal! I don't want to fight you and for your information I _like_ my job! I like working on cars. I like _fixing_ _shit_ , instead of going around and _hurting_ other people. I've _seen you fight_ and I don't want to be your fucking punching bag!" Santana snaps at Charlie.

"You broke my nose. The only people who have broken my nose are Quinn and Sue. Sue said I'm not allowed to fight with Quinn anymore because stuff gets broken and people get hurt. And Sue—well Sue is Sue!" Charlie said. "So you're the only person _left_ and you won't fight me!"

Santana turns to Quinn who shrugs like this is a perfectly _normal_ conversation, "I don't _fight_." She states slowly making sure to enunciate every word so that Charlie understands her. She's a hundred percent sure that Charlie doesn't hear her when Quinn moves and pats Charlie's arm and mumbles something about bacon. The two of them were odd, and she couldn't quite place why they were. "Look I'm not a fighter, I'm a mechanic. You know you're stronger than me. You walk into the room and you _know_ that you are the strongest person in there. Fighting me isn't going to do _shit_ for you. You'll beat me again and then what? I'll be stuck healing while you go back to being bored again."

"Except you _are_." Charlie said bluntly. "You're just like me. You like to fight—I know I'm going to win but I just want to have fun."

"I don't _fight_ anymore. I'm a mechanic," Santana states again in a tone that suggests the conversation is over. There's no point in rehashing any of her past with Charlie. It's obvious that the twins missed any class on empathy plus several other classes on basic human interaction, and she doesn't want them picking at her. "Whatever," she says. "Rachel said that she doesn't want to go and you can't _force_ her to go."

Quinn stares at Santana for a moment before moving towards her and picking Santana up and moving her out of the way. She places Santana down and pats her head, like she's a child. "Of course we can." Quinn moves to the door and knocks on it. "Rachel. I asked. You're going. So I'm coming in. Because you can't go to Combustion dressed like that." Quinn waits but Rachel doesn't open the door for her so she opens it herself and walks in.

Santana lets out a frustrated sigh when Rachel begins to yell and there is the sound of things being thrown and Rachel yelling at Quinn. She moves to break it up and explain to Quinn that she'd stay behind with Rachel instead of going out when Charlie moves in front of her. Santana looks the ceiling for a moment. It's going to be a _long_ night.

* * *

Every now and again, Brittany would get super focused on one of her projects at work. It was then that Frannie became the perfect girlfriend making sure she ate and not bothering her while she worked. She understood, and she did the same thing far too often for Brittany's tastes. Brittany's work was just as important and she couldn't help wonder if she was on the verge of a breakthrough. But it had been two weeks and Frannie had never been a _patient_ person.

Two weeks of Brittany disappearing first thing in the morning and coming back late. She hadn't even been in her office for lunch one day when she had stopped by to see if they could have lunch together. Two weeks of them not talking and she missed her girlfriend, which was why she was currently hovering around the home office that Brittany rarely used to begin with. She didn't plan to stay long just maybe reconnect with her a bit and let her continue saving the world.

Frannie popped her head in and watched as Brittany was biting her pen as she stared at some papers, there was a look of concentration on her face. Frannie moved in and waited looking at the files that were around the room. Brittany was now clearly bringing work back home with her. She touched one of the files, glancing at the cover. Project Alpha-Delta-Iota. She frowns because it seems familiar but she can't quite place it. She picks it up despite the fact that it's labelled confidential and opens it, several pages have been redacted but some of it hasn't and she begins to read it outloud.

_From the data received, levels of integration into genomic DNA are already at forty-five percent. For higher levels of integration, knocking out the DNA sequence in question thus creating a loss-of function should lead to better results, when trying to add the DNA vector that you've engineered. See the notes on Project Gemini that have been attached—_

Frannie flicks her eyes up to Brittany who has turned to look at her. "Brittany—since when do you work on genetic modification?" She knew what DNA was and she had a very rudimentary understanding of how genetic modification worked to be able to pinpoint this. "The _genetic_ mod program is _over_."

Brittany studied Frannie for a moment and then moved in her chair to take the file away from her, "I know it's over and I already said that I didn't want to be a part of it. But I don't see why that should stop us from looking into the non-militarized applications of genetic modification. Imagine crops that didn't need that much water, or would grow despite any pest problems we might have. Stronger healthier seeds. It could put an end to rations for the normal people Frannie. Besides it's not one of my active projects I'm just _consulting_ with the military scientists. Project Alpha-Delta-Iota is a project that is experimental and on my end I'm just theorizing what they could do to make it work. I believe they're working with corn, and trying to make it more resistant and make the crops more bountiful with the amount of resources they already have." Brittany shrugged she hadn't really given it much thought her mind had been elsewhere for the past two weeks, and this consultation had been going on for months.

Frannie frowned, it had been a big deal when Brittany had graduated. People had said she was the next Einstein, or Hawking, or any of the other great minds of a generation. She had a use, and she was given everything, people had showered her with gifts trying to get her to work for them. Sue had put in a bid as had William, both wanting her intelligence and ideas working for them. Her father had wanted her to convince her to join William's military. It's how they had met. Brittany hadn't wanted to work for the military. Where her ideas could be weaponized or used to _hurt_ people. She had liked Brittany and she enjoyed the innocence and naiveté. So she had suggested that she go into the private market. It was the first time that she had defied her father, but having Brittany unhappy doing something she didn't want to do was not going to help her with all those ideas. That was the last she was ever supposed to see Brittany. They were supposed to have gone on with their lives Brittany using her powers for good while she worked on her first election. "Well—if you're just consulting then what are you working on?" Frannie asks slowly. "It's been two weeks and you keep disappearing Brittany."

Brittany smiled at Frannie and spun around in her chair, "I've been working on an experiment that will—"

"Brittany, before you begin can you please use simple language so I can understand?" Frannie interrupts shifting some of the documents that are there so she can look at Brittany who flashes her a knowing smile. They'd been through this before. Brittany was excited about something and she'd start using all these scientific words that she didn't understand and she wanted to be able to follow Brittany.

Brittany smiled at Frannie and hummed. "Right now, I'm trying to figure out the right amount of bacon to use as positive reinforcement, in helping the twins get girlfriends." Brittany ignores the fact that Frannie's jaw drops and turns back to the paper in front of me. She'd have to do more testing to see if it was working. "Is it too far if I make them all move in with each other?"

"You've been ignoring me for two weeks to _experiment on the twins?_ Brittany what have I told you about experimenting on people—I mean yeah, they're little more than animals but _still_." Frannie pinched the bridge of her nose. She's not quite sure who to be mad at more, the twins or Brittany. Two weeks and she thought that Brittany had been solving their resource problem.

Brittany winces, "I can think of a million reasons how this will help the city?" she offers weakly realizing that she may have gone a bit too far in putting Frannie on the backburner these few weeks.

Frannie frowns at her. "I'm sure you can." Frannie responds dryly. She sighs and looks at Brittany. "Given their history Brittany are you sure that experimenting on them is even wise? What happens when they find out you've been using them in an experiment?"

Brittany winces, "Well—they've never had a problem with it before—"

"You weren't trying to change them," Frannie points out and rubs her head. "Honestly I'm more upset that you care more about finding them girlfriends, which they don't actually want and didn't ask you to help them. Than your own actual girlfriend who thought you were trying to save the world." Frannie said looking at Brittany who flushes. "Two weeks Brittany and you've barely said like two words to me. I thought I did something again—and you were burying yourself in work."

Brittany flicks her eyes to her statistical analysis and then back at Frannie, "I didn't mean to I just got super excited—because it's the first time that I've seen them remotely interested in people. It feels weird talking to them sometimes when they aren't there. They speak their own language you know, not to each other but how they show they care for each other is different than how they interact with the world. I think them talking to you or me gets lost in translation a lot like they don't completely understand not really. It's different at work they can talk work but how you perceive them to be isn't who they are—and I really just wanted to help learn to understand people a bit better. I didn't mean to ignore you." Brittany is quiet for a moment and then flashes Frannie a warm smile, the data can wait till later. "How about I show you sorry I am," she says taking Frannie's hand and hopping off the chair so she can apologize profusely.

Frannie huffs irritated at Brittany resisting her a bit. "I'm still angry Brittany. Sex doesn't make everything—"

"I'll do that thing that you love so much," Brittany interrupts the smile still on her face. She meets no further resistance on Frannie's part and Brittany smiles.

* * *

"You know the twins brought this back for me after their first time outside the walls. The entire squad at the time found several crates of this stuff and the twins brought me back a crate. Old and dusty, with the labels falling off—but the taste is _exquisite_." Russell said as he poured a glass of scotch for William Schuester, noting the look in his eyes. "I've had it tested, don't worry they didn't poison it and the vast majority of the bottles the seal hadn't been broken." Russell was quiet and looked at the glass of scotch in his hand.

Will nodded, "My wife just gave birth to my son and I can't imagine how— _difficult_ it was for you and your wife to have to give up your children. I can't imagine the torture you went through—being forced to see them grow up to be monsters. Knowing that your children were just _gone_ —that they were dead." He takes a sip of the scotch, taking in all the intense flavors.

Russell glanced at Will as he rotated his glass watching the brown liquid move. "Judy and I have never been quite the same after that." Russell glanced up at William who nods his head eating it up and he resists the urge to roll his eyes. He had signed up for the experimental procedure despite knowing all the risks because he had hoped that they would die. He had a reelection coming up. He had simply hoped that they would die heroically, and he would use them on his platform as to why the genetic modification program was useless. But they had survived while others _hadn't_. He had nearly lost the election that year. What made it worse is that his wife still had some attachment to the mongrels. That's why he had been forced to take them back once the treatment was done. Judy had been pleased to have her babies back until the incident with the cat when they were two years old. One of the little freaks had killed the cat while the other one was dragging around its corpse. Judy had finally listened to his arguments and they had gotten rid of them. He had given them back to be raised with the other freaks.

William was quiet for a long moment. That horror, it was a good thing that they were working on betting society. That they were going to get rid of them. He looks around the room, making sure there was no one else around but him and Russell. "The project is going exceedingly well, Jacob Ben Israel believes that by next year the project will be ready to be unveiled."

Russell smiles at this next year was his election year. If they could time it perfectly he could be seen as a hero. He'd get reelected for sure and he'd be able to take the Citadel into the new century. "And the transport? We need to get this out of the city. Frannie is overly zealous when it comes to resources and with the new budget coming up she'll start asking questions. We can't have that."

William nods that makes sense, "I've placed a spy deep within Sue's ranks. I have her troop movements, and I picked a route out of the city that her troops won't be in. "We'll be able to move the last sample out of the Citadel and to the secure location _tomorrow_. I imagine she'll be quite surprised when she realizes that I know every last one of her plays. She won't be getting any more resources sir that I can promise you."

Russell clasps Will on the shoulder as he walks by him. "Excellent, just tell me if you need more resources." If there was nothing to find there would be absolutely nothing that would link back to him.

Will frowned ever so slightly and turned to look at Russell. "Actually sir, we're going to need some more volunteers. We're going to need to test the process all over again. Not to mention see if the process is viable on anyone who wants it."

Russell pauses for a moment, "You can't use any more of your troops. People will begin to notice if they start disappearing more. We've managed to make it look like Sue was the incompetent one because she couldn't find them. Because if you lose them, if you continue to lose them William it will look bad for you and we can't have that. The council will want to launch an investigation which even I wouldn't be able to stop."

"Well what do you want me to do then?" Will asks his face twisting. He had all the volunteers he needed, in the army. How many of them wanted to turn things around and get back at Sue and her special forces lunatics.

"There are hundreds of people each day, who are trying to become citizens of the Citadel. They live in abject poverty, waiting for us to move. So many people get turned away, and will never become citizens of the Citadel. I suggest you start making them offers. They will get full citizenship rights once the project is successful. Let them _earn_ their way in, let them be _useful_."

William hesitates for a moment, but he nods. Their entire society was one based on use they didn't have anywhere in their society for those that weren't _useful_. "I'll start recruiting, maybe just ten of the healthiest looking ones. I'll need the appropriate resource adjustment for the increase."

"Of course," Russell said making a note of it and pausing for a second. "Speaking of resource adjustments. This new soldier that Sue has acquired. I am not comfortable with her being in the Citadel. For all we know she could be a double agent for whichever Citadel she came from. She has unfettered access to our military, and who knows what secrets she could be collecting."

"She's gone AWOL from her Citadel, I was thinking of having her returned. I believe that it will start helping us build bridges with some of the other Citadel's out there. That we aren't afraid to extradite their criminals back to them so they can punish their own." William said and he saw Russell debating it. "I'm in the process of finding out _which_ Citadel she came from."

Russell frowns slightly, "Perhaps it's for the best, and it might be a chance to take out Sue if we move the pieces just right. Everyone knows Sue will never give up one of her men quietly. It could be the perfect play." He thinks about it for a moment more and then nods. "Do it, start the process and make sure that it is completely kept quiet and off the books."

* * *

Puck threw his hands up in the air, "Rachel! You're finally joining us!" He said ignoring the sour look on her face as he wrapped one of his arms around her, giving her a side hug. "Want a drink? We can get you something that probably won't knock you out after a sip."

Rachel looked up at Puck who was currently pulling her along to the bar to get her something to drink, wondered if any of them understood that _abducting someone_ was frowned upon in most civilized societies. Quinn had carried her—had actually carried her the entire way. Santana had at least managed to convince Quinn that she didn't need to pick out her clothes, or force her into them. "Puck, while I appreciate the offer I do not want a drink. I'm here because Quinn thinks it's _perfectly_ acceptable to drag me to places against my will."

Puck tilts his head and looks at the twins who have pulled away and are currently in a shoving match over some girl. He looks back at Rachel and winks at Santana, "Don't worry about it Rachel. I think they just want you to have a good time. I mean after tomorrow we're going to get more resources and totally kick ass, and you can join our army officially—"

"And be what? Your personal cheerleader," Puck grins at that idea and Rachel groans, but she smiles and shoves him a bit. "I don't want to be a part of _any_ army Puck I want a choice in what I do, I want to be able to try things out and find something I like doing." Rachel said and he nodded. "I just I don't know what that is or where to start."

"You could come work on cars with me Rachel," Santana said as she ordered a drink. "I mean I need an extra set of hands and you know enough to help me out." It's a suggestion because she really did need a bit of help. She'd been put in charge of making sure that every vehicle was ready for the war games. She was so glad that it was going to be over soon and she could go back to working at a slower pace.

Rachel sighs, "I don't really want to spend my life working on cars Santana—and quite possibly running into my _abductor!_ " Rachel says loudly turning to the twins who actually pause and spare her a glance. There was no bad or good twin here, there was just evil twin and the eviler twin. It was like a competition between the two of them to see who could be eviler. She wasn't quite sure who won the award for being the most evil between the two of them.

"You know what you two ladies need?" Puck asks causing them both to turn to him. "You need to blow off steam. Best way to do that in Combustion is to get laid." They stare at him and he smiles and puts his arm around both of them. "Now, I'll offer my services if you both require it. No need to be shy, we could do it right here right now at the same time, or we could go to a private room somewhere. Or if you two don't want to have a threesome you can take turns. Everyone deserves a ride on the Puckasaurus."

Rachel's mouth drops and looks at Santana who doesn't look at all that surprised. "Does he do this all the time?" Rachel asks Santana who takes a sip of her drink. She gives Santana a look wondering if he knew about what had happened to her and she gives Rachel a nod back.

Puck smiles. "It's _Combustion_ and you two haven't been taking any of what it offers to heart. Look, I'm trying to help here so if you don't want me how about I help you find someone. I've slept with most of the men and women so I can tell you the best people to sleep with. Point to someone and I'll give you the run down."

Santana gives Rachel a look and sighs and points to a girl, wanting to test Puck's theory out it was something to do it seemed as if it was a slow night tonight. No one was fighting, there wasn't anyone having sex on the floor or in the corner. No one was unwinding the way they usually did and she bet that Sue had made threats. She flicks her eyes to the twins who were once again doing their own thing and shakes her head.

Puck looks at where Santana is pointing. "Well she's a screamer. Like after I was done my ears were ringing screamer, sounded like I was murdering something and I was." He holds up his hand expecting a high five but he gets nothing from them and he pouts. He thought he was funny.

Rachel sighs and looks around where once again Quinn is in the process of losing her clothes and she groans. Which seems to alert Quinn that she's looking again because hazel eyes meet hers and Quinn flashes a pleased smile at her. "Does she always do that?"

Puck follows Rachel's gaze and laughs, "It's Combustion! No one really cares who gets naked. Quite a few orgies have broken out in here before. Might be one tomorrow if everything goes off without a hitch." He turns to Rachel. "If you didn't want to come to Combustion why are you here? No one's going to mess with you not after last time."

"I didn't _want_ to come. Quinn 'asked'." Rachel said and even though she's not looking she can practically feel Quinn's eyes on her, smiling at her.

"She asked?" Puck said flicking his eyes to Quinn who was currently watching Rachel while she was knuckles deep in a girl, but her eyes were focused on Rachel watching her. "That's like—polite. Like Quinn doesn't ask, she just sort of does. They both do it. They want my food, they take it. Anything and everything they want. I mean there are a few things that they know they have to ask for but that's about it."

Santana was about to ask when Charlie takes her drink from her hand and finishes it and hands it back to her. Giving her a look that basically dares her to do something about it. Santana clenches her fist but she's not going to give Charlie the satisfaction. Charlie quickly grows bored and looks at Puck. "I want to dance Puck. So come with me—but you have to keep your hands to yourself, or I'll have to break your wrists." Charlie said grabbing onto his shirt and pulling him along with her.

Puck throws them a look and shrugs, "Anything and everything," he mouths to them.

Rachel groaned and looked at Santana still ignoring Quinn she was going to keep on doing that for as long as she lived if she had to. "What are we going to do with them?" she asks Santana who has gone back to looking at her empty glass an annoyed expression on her face. "Are you sure you can't just—I don't know—"

"Trust me there are days when I want to, but if I start I don't think we'd win or it'll end," Santana says and shakes her head motioning for the bartender to refill her drink.


	7. Chapter 7

Frannie sighed as she watched Brittany trying to hand out small pretzel bites to Rachel and Santana, she was sure that they had talked about this last night. She was _sure_ , that she had told Brittany to stop trying to set the twins up. It was probably between orgasm six or eight, that they had this very important conversation. "Brittany," she said with a sigh. She didn't even know why Brittany had invited them. But they were watching the war games on one of massive televisions in what had used to be Time Square. She could see citizens lining up with signs cheering for the team that they wanted to win.

Brittany glances at Frannie, "Don't worry Frannie I brought enough for everyone," Brittany said flashing Frannie a gigantic smile, watching as Santana was shoving the pretzel bites into her mouth hungrily and she glanced at Rachel. "They're _really_ good Rachel, you'll love them."

Rachel crinkled her nose, all this strange food and she knew that Santana would eat anything, but she took one gratefully. "What exactly is it?" she asks looking at Brittany. She had found herself asking that question often when new food was put in front of her.

"It's a mixture of flour, water, eggs, sugar, sodium bicarbonate, a bit of Saccharomyces cerevisiae—" Brittany begins.

"English Brittany," Frannie said with an amused smile as she looked at Brittany who blinked and flushed and looked at Rachel who still looked very confused.

"It's just a bit of a bread Rachel," Brittany said trying again and Rachel nods still looking at the offered food suspiciously but popping it into her mouth and chewing. A smile breaks out on Rachel's face and Brittany smiles proudly. She looks at Frannie who shakes her head and smiles at her. Brittany hands Rachel the rest of the bucket she had made for her and Santana and moves to sit by Frannie throwing her legs over Frannie's lap. She looks at the screen as she fumbles through her backpack for the chocolate chip cookies that she had made for Frannie. "There are the twins! Don't they look amazing in their uniforms?"

Rachel looked up at the screen smacking Santana's hand away, "You've already eaten more than half of them Santana," Rachel says and Santana makes a face at her. Rachel turns her attention back to the screen where Quinn and Charlie are standing with the rest of Argon Squad, with Sue. The twins looked absolutely bored as they stood attention. But Rachel had to _grudgingly_ admit that they looked completely decent in their sleek black uniforms. She would never say it out loud. It would only ensure that Quinn would _never_ leave her alone. "So—what's the purpose of this game?"

"To waste resources," Frannie said in an irritated tone. The whole city wasn't working. People were in the streets eating and having a good time with their families. She gets swatted playfully by Brittany. "What we are wasting resources!"

Santana smiles and takes a sip of her water and looks at Rachel, "The objective is to capture the opposing forces commanding officer. If Sue gets captured we lose, if Will gets captured than we win. If at the end of the 'game' neither Commander has been captured, it's however many of the lieutenants have been captured."

Rachel nods and looks at the screen where she sees Sue talking to the twins. "Who do you think is going to win?" She asks looking at the screen.

Frannie crossed her arms over her chest. "Unfortunately Sue, there is no way that she comes out of this without _something_. Her strategy is simply better. No one is getting past Argon Squad to get to her not with the twins there. So Will's best bet is to take out her lieutenants. Which will be _difficult_. Cassandra, Shannon, David and Carl, are _elite_ forces. They have years of experience of combat experience." Frannie frowned, "On the other hand, Will is trying to play it safe. He's keeping all his lieutenants in one place surrounded by a small army. I think he's hoping that Sue's forces won't be able to penetrate. Ken, Sandy, Henri and Howard. Will has the numbers on his side and all he needs to do is hold Sue off, for an entire day." Frannie made a face. "We'll know who will win once the games begin."

"Are you sure, everyone is saying that Will's army outnumbers Sue's army thirty-five to one. That Sue doesn't have a chance because she'll be overwhelmed," Rachel questions looking at Frannie.

"I created a stimulation, and Sue wins about ninety-five percent of the time. The other five percent, well that's in the margin of error," Brittany pipes up. Frannie looks at her, "What I wanted to know, there's a pool for rations at work. Well there was a pool till I ran the statistical analysis taking in numerous factors, agility, speed, weapons, battle experience, strength, athleticism."

"Like I said, Sue wants her resources. I'm quite sure she'd kill to get them which is why if any of her troops kills a member of Will's team then Will wins by default." Frannie looks at Rachel. "If you're looking to bet resources, the smart bet would be to put it on Sue, unless of course she idiotically decides to let the twins off their leash. Then the smart bet would be on William. Though there might not be much of an army _left_ if that's the case and Sue will get her resources _anyway_."

Rachel glanced at Sue who was still talking to the twins an irritated look on her face, but unlike whenever she yelled at Quinn and occasionally Charlie, they seemed to be listening to her. She commanded the respect of an army, even Santana was willing to defend and work for her. It was something she wanted. She wanted that _respect_ , that power. She wished she could have it so no one could push her around again. Even Frannie who was hoping that William pulled a miracle out of his ass, spoke of Sue with respect in her voice. She wondered what it would take to become that person.

* * *

"I can't believe that we don't get to be out there not kicking some mod ass," Hank Sanders grumbled as he checked his gun. He couldn't believe that they were even having this conversation. "Does anyone even know _what_ we're transporting that's so _freaking_ important that it couldn't wait till tomorrow and it _had_ to be now?" Hank looked around the transport van, it had already been loaded by the time they had reported for duty and they were dropping it off at one of Will's many black sites.

Cody Tolentino shook his head, "Are you fucking kidding me dude? You want to fight those animals? Yeah we might win, but do you know how many people they're going to hurt? Or how many people they might _accidentally_ kill? I want no fucking part of it. I'm not going to _die_ today just for some fucking game."

Chandler rolled his eyes, it was going to be a long trip and he really didn't want to hear them talking about the genetic mods all day. Everyone knew that Sue's team was going to kick their ass. He tapped the wheel, and glanced at Matt. "Are you sure we're taking the right route? We don't want to draw any attention from any of mods, because you heard what the Commander said, we need to handle this with caution."

Matt nods and is about to say something when there is a loud boom and the vehicle that they are in tips violently causing some yelling and screaming to fill the vehicles as it crashes back down on for wheels with a huge amount of force. A crack appears in the paneling that separates the cab and the trailer and a hiss can be heard.

Chandler feels his heart starting up again as he pants and looks around. "What the _fuck was that!_ " He shouts, not quite sure what to make of what had just happened. They had clearly been hit but by what? A rocket? Did they hit a mine? He looks out the window, which has multiple cracks running through it now. He was glad that it hadn't shattered completely. "We're not in the area that was assigned for the games right?" he questions desperately, trying to get his head back on and to stop the panic. But he can hear this irritating hiss in the background, and he's still trying to figure out what just happened.

Hank immediately looks out the window, but it's useless and he quickly opens the door and steps out grabbing his gun. Unlike everyone else in the games, his actually had _real_ bullets in them. This was like a wet dream for him, he was going to be able to take out some mods if it was them. He ducks behind the car again and begins to move ready to take out whatever had attacked their transport vehicle. He's going to take out some Mods, "Identify yourself!" He shouts pointing it at one of the soldiers his voice loud and pounding. His heart was still beating rapidly as he stared at a genetic mod that was dusting herself off.

The Mac turned to him giving him a dirty look, they had noticed this one caravan moving away from the others. Sue had given them the heads up to keep their eyes peeled and they had followed it. Attacking it had been fun and she was going to need to work on that slingshot maneuver with Sheila, they should have been able to take the entire truck down. "Bromine Squad," she said with a smirk before darting low and quickly entering Hank's personal space and ripping the gun from his hands.

Hank immediately scrambled back, "Fuck, we're not even part off—" Hank begins only to fall on his ass and starts dragging himself away from her. There's a loud thud that causes them both to stop and turn to the transport vehicle. There was another thud, but it was followed by what sounded like clicking. The hiss was still there still in the background.

"What the fuck is in there?" The Mac asked taking a step back, her sense of smell wasn't that great but something didn't quite smell right.

Hank immediately followed her lead when there was a guttural gurgle and more clicking and more thuds. "I don't know we're just supposed to be transporting it—?"

"What the fuck?" Matt said rubbing his head and undoing his seatbelt. He looks around but Chandler already has one foot out the door and Cody's following him. He sighs inwardly, he'd be the one to check it out then. He grabs his gun and makes sure that the safety is off as he shimmies to the back of the cab and pauses for a moment trying to gather his courage and ignore the thuds and guttural groaning and the scraping sounds that are being emitted from the trailer. He takes a deep breath before he moves closer to the crack in the wall and takes a peek.

There's the sound of movement footsteps and thuds as two glowing red eyes appear in front of Matt and he tries to scramble back, as the clicking gets louder. Before he can scream the crack in the wall gets bigger, the metal crumpling like it's nothing more than paper, and something grabs him by the neck and drags him into the trailer never to be seen again.

The smell of blood hits The Mac's nose and she pulls back and starts to shoot the trailer automatically not even registering that it had actual bullets in it and that they were tearing through the transport vehicle, but it just seemed to make whatever was in there angrier as a bone chilling shriek was heard. " _Fuck. Fuck. Fuck._ " She swore when she emptied the clip into the truck. She touches her ear activating her communicator. "Girls re—"

She doesn't get to finish her sentence as the trailer splits open and Mac turns, all her genetic modifications hasn't prepared her for something like this and before the shock can wear off she's already dead. Her body crumpling to the floor next to Hank's.

* * *

Sue sighed as she resisted the urge to start yelling at the twins. They were being filmed after all and she needed to look absolutely professional today. Like a leader, she wanted the people to have _faith_ in them. This was all part of the image of being a _good_ leader and yelling and raving was not good for her image. "I feel like it's my duty to _constantly_ remind the two of you that you are _not_ allowed to kill anyone today. If you do, I will make your lives a _living hell_. Normally I don't care what you get up to, and I ignore the fact that you two aren't at work because quite frankly my army runs more efficiently when the two of you aren't around. But if you do happen to kill an unenhanced person today even accidentally, I will make sure that for the rest of your _long lives_ you will never have any fun again."

"We promise we're not going to kill anyone," Quinn said almost sullenly. What was the point of war games if no one got to die, and they had to _fake_ pretend to die? There was no reality to this, and Sue was just making their jobs more difficult.

Sue turned to Charlie who hadn't quite been paying attention. She seemed to have much more energy than usual and was busy fidgeting. "Well?" she demands crossing her arms and looking at Charlie who blinks and looks at her.

"What Quinn said," Charlie says and she's met with a scowl from Sue. "You never let us have any fun," she mutters under her breath. "I promise not to kill anyone."

Sue's eyes flicked between the two of them this was a risky idea, letting the twins off their leash was always risky but she wanted the world to see that she was better and that William was an embarrassment. Perhaps having his army decimated by only two people would lead William to commit Seppuku, ritual suicide. It would be a _glorious day_ when and if that happened. "When you _find_ William and his men, if you wish to rough them up _a bit_ and drag them through the city, well you can. Just make sure you don't kill them."

"Are you sure that's what you want?" Quinn asked as she began to unbutton her jacket as Sue stepped back.

"It would solve all your problems, and we can make it look like an accident," Charlie adds. She finishes unbuttoning her jacket and tosses it at Sam who sighs and rolls his eyes as he catches it and Quinn's. Charlie begins to stretch her shoulders out.

Sue thinks about it for a moment, it would solve most of her problems, but she shakes her head. The resulting paperwork and the various council meetings would be a pain in her ass. "No, just rough him up a bit. That doesn't mean _maim_ him by the way. You want to add a few bumps and bruises maybe a broken rib or an arm, than that's fine. But nothing more." Sue throws in as Mike hands the twins their gear for the day. " _Don't_ disappoint me." The twins salute her and Sue is grateful that it's a proper salute before she dismisses them and turns her attention to the rest of Argon Squad. "I assume the three of you can handle _guard duty_?" She asks raising a brow.

"Yes Ma'am!' Mike says as the three remaining members of the Argon squad salute her. Sue waves them off and shakes her head.

* * *

"The twins are going off alone?" Frannie asked in shock leaning forward. She had known that Sue wanted to make a point but this was ridiculous. Even if the twins were invincible the numbers alone would be too much for them. "What the _hell_ is Sue thinking?"

Santana turned to Frannie, "You've never seen them fight have you?" Santana questions and Frannie tilts her head and frowns at her. "I have, I took my eyes off them for a second. Just a second and everyone in the Caravan that they—well they rescued us from was dead. There wasn't a scratch on them. All of their actions were efficient and made to kill. All I remember was gunfire, I don't even think they wasted a bullet just people died quickly. Might have taken longer if they weren't all in one place, but they were."

Rachel shakes her head. "There's a _huge_ difference between Finn's caravan and soldiers who are _trained_ to protect the Citadel Santana. Some of Finn's men could barely shoot a gun, and for Finn it was just the appearance of looking strong—they weren't equipped to deal with a genetically modified threat." If they had been smart they would have used Santana to her full potential, using her knowledge to help bolster his forces. Instead they had treated her like crap.

Santana shrugs her shoulders, "You're right, athleticism and strength only take you so far—but unlike Sue who has standards, and she rigorously tests her men and constantly increases standards—Will doesn't do that. He's lowered standards, and the training isn't that great."

"Sue's been harping on that for years, but I have yet to see any proof of her claims. There is nothing wrong with _having_ a huge army especially when they double as our police force and our firefighters and whatever we need them to be. Not everyone needs to be _soldiers_ in a military, you're Sue's mechanic and you haven't gone through her _insanity_ ," Frannie said with a shrug.

"Not yet," Santana said and rubbed her jaw. "I'm not allowed out of the Citadel without permission, I can't go on missions not that I want to, but until then I am well grounded." Santana said. She didn't want to take the insane tests to begin with but Sue insisted. She only _chose_ the best squads to leave the city, the ones that were trained properly.

"Well the twins leave the Citadel all the time without permission," Brittany says in a bored tone as everyone looks at her and she immediately closes her mouth, realizing that was supposed to be a secret. Frannie looks at her and she squirms. "They scale the wall sometimes but they're always back by morning! Most of the time. You can't say anything Frannie I'll get in trouble." Brittany said looking at her girlfriend who looked irritated and she decided to change the subject. "So the twins are really hot right?" Brittany said.

"Excuse me?" Frannie said turning to Brittany.

Brittany smiled at Frannie and handed her a cookie immediately and gave her a look. This was for her experiment and there were answers that she needed to know. Training the twins to be better meant nothing if Rachel and Santana weren't interested. "Not as hot as you obviously," Brittany says patting Frannie's hand.

"Not even close," Frannie said narrowing her eyes at Brittany.

"Not even close," Brittany repeated and turns her attention back to Rachel and Santana, "Well?" she says looking at them.

Rachel sniffed at the question, "Yes they may be attractive however their—" Rachel tilted her head and looked down at the street where there seemed to be screaming and people moving to get out of the way. Rachel stood up and looked to Santana before moving closer to the window to check out what the fuss was all about. "What the hell is that?" Rachel asked pointing.

Santana moved to take a look at what Rachel was pointing to and her mouth dropped for a moment and she immediately grabbed Rachel and pulled her back. "Everyone _get down_ ," she orders immediately as she shoves Rachel onto the ground. She looks at Frannie and Brittany who immediately drop to the ground and Santana turns to try and find an exist when the window behind her shatters and she hears someone scream as something firm collides with her back and sends her flying into the wall.

* * *

It was the screaming that alerted Sue that something was very wrong, she could hear it in the distance and she tilted her head. That didn't sound right and she knew it couldn't be the twins, they had gone off in the opposite direction and terrorizing citizens was beneath them. "Do you hear that?" Sue questioned Mike who tilted his head and looked back in the direction of the screams.

Mike frowned, and listened, he generally tuned out most noise and he had needed to concentrate. But that didn't sound like cheering, it sounded like people were screaming in terror. His frown deepened and he immediately changed the frequency so he could speak publically to all the other squads. He brought his hand to his ear and turned to Sue. "Argon Squad, checking in." He announced onto the public bandwidth. "I need every squad to give me a status report, and does anyone have eyes on the disturbance that seems to be coming from—" He looks over his shoulder again. "Sector E?" His ear was filled with the sound of various squads checking in. It takes him a moment to sort through all the voices, but even Sue seems to be paying attention now and is monitoring everyone.

"Bromine Squad check in," Sue said once everyone was finished checking in and she was met with radio silence. She quickly ran over who made up Bromine squad. Mac, Ronnie, Shiela, Aphasia and Jayelle. It was her only completely female squad, and yes they had behavioral problems, but compared to the twins they were _angels_. And even the twins knew to check in when commanded. "Something's wrong," Sue stated plainly and tilted her head to look at the War Games for a moment, she wanted those resources, but something was terrorizing her Citadel. "Lithium, Silicon, Titanium, Uranium, Plutonium and Cadmium I want you withdraw from your position, and meet me in Sector E. Everyone else hold your positions until I say _otherwise_."

"Should I recall the twins?" Mike asked and Sue shook her head.

Sue paused for a moment and then tilted her head, "No, not yet. This may just be a distraction meant to break position and I don't want to lose ground. If this is something serious then the twins will be recalled immediately." Sue said. Besides the six squads that she had just called in plus the remaining soldiers in Argon Squad should be enough to deal with whatever the issue was. Sue frowns as the screaming gets louder and she can smell a very feint whiff of blood, "We need to move now!"

* * *

Slamming face first into a wall had been hard, but it wasn't the hardest she had ever been hit or thrown for that matter, and it only took her a few seconds to recover. And she immediately moved to help Rachel up, "Everyone needs to move _now_." Santana said as she practically shoved Rachel towards the exit. They couldn't stay here not with the broken glass especially not with the reach.

Frannie was up seconds later pushing Santana off her ignoring the cut on her palms from the broken glass and moved to check if Brittany was okay. She wrapped her arms around her tightly and turned to Santana. "You're _modified so do something! This is what you were built to do_. _"_

Santana frowned and made sure that Rachel was okay wincing at the cut on her forehead. Her face was a bloody mess and she tore her shirt and pressed it against Rachel's. She didn't quite know what Frannie expected her to do. Whatever that thing was it was tearing up the city like it was it nothing. She couldn't even beat Charlie in a fight. "I don't—"

Rachel touched Santana's hand taking the rag and pressing it against her own forehead hoping that it stopped the bleeding. "Santana—you're the only one that can help—you don't have to fight—just distract it until help arrives?" Rachel suggested. "I know you're a mechanic but right now you're the only one with enough power to do anything."

Santana looked at Rachel, a swarm of emotions welling up inside of her. It had been far too long—she didn't have a weapon, there were a million excuses that she could give. But Rachel was right. At this moment in time she was the only person who could help, at least until Sue got here. "I need you guys to get to safety and don't try anything reckless. Rachel you know some basic first aid—maybe you can help the injured—I'll go distract that _thing_."

Brittany pulled away from Frannie who tried to pull her back, "I can help Rachel Frannie. You know I took some medical courses because I was bored," Brittany said smacking Frannie's hand away. She pauses for a moment. "You can help to—it'll be good for your campaign." Brittany resisted the urge to roll her eyes at Frannie who started thinking of the possibilities. Frannie was a good person but sometimes it wasn't about other people sometimes it was about helping her keep power so she could help other people. Brittany turns back to Santana who is currently looking for something to use to help her. "Be careful, Charlie will be very upset if you die. Even if she doesn't know it yet." Santana shot her a weird look and Brittany smiled at her. Clearly Santana didn't know it yet either.

Santana shook her head and began to move. "I think right now the safest place to be is in the stairwells, so head there and wait until I pull it away from this area before you guys go out there." Santana ordered adjusting her jaw and exhaling slowly she could do this. She walked to the window, they were only about three stories up and took a few steps back and ran jumping out of the shattered window.

* * *

Sue moved quickly keeping pace with the rest of Argon squad as they practically shoved their way through the crowd, forcing themselves in the opposite direction of the screaming running people. They had needed to abandon their car further back just too simply get through the fleeing crowd. It had been a long time since she had ever seen battle not like this, and the smell of blood was getting stronger. Also _death_ , people were dying and she shoved someone else aside as they finally managed to get to what used to be Times Square. Sue stopped dead in her tracks and stared at the monstrosity that was tearing up _her_ Citadel.

Puck stared and tilted his head at the humanoid shaped creature, well he thought it was humanoid. It had feet, and arms, though they were thick. A bodybuilder came to mind, one of those old muscle bound men that he had seen in old videos that spent hours at the gym and quite probably used steroids to help them beef up. You could see veins and quite possibly arteries straining against the skin which looked leathery and Puck shivered at the red eyes that turned to face him. Humanoid indeed but his face wasn't human—if it had ever been human. There was no nose but instead it looked like its skull had been caved way to make way for long tentacles that were hanging there twisting around, but on the side of what Puck assumed to be its mouth region, were two massive tentacles which were whipping around causing the massive amounts of damage to the Citadel. Unlike the rest of its body, the tentacles were covered in a clear mucous-like substance and the skin was practically translucent, allowing Puck to get a good look at what he assumed to be blood vessels, and he could see what he also assumed to be black sluggish goo pumping through the tentacles. Puck took a step back in horror for a moment and said the first thing that came to mind. "Since when do we fight _hentai_ monsters? Do I look like a magical girl?" Sam and Mike immediately turn to him and give him an odd look and he shrugs. "Brittany got me on the internet," he explains but they are still giving him a strange look and he flushes.

Sue snaps out of it, "I _knew_ that they'd come back," she hisses and turns to the Argon squad. They weren't _helpless_ but this would go much better if they were carrying _real_ weapons with them. She gritted her teeth there was no time to focus on what could have been. She was about to start barking out orders when there was a loud crash and she turns to the alien that's terrorizing her city to see Santana landing on a car and ripping off one of the car doors and hurling it at the alien. Sue blinked she was almost sure that Santana said she didn't fight but as the alien's tentacle shot out, becoming longer it seemed and sliced through the car as Santana pushed off, that was _clearly_ a lie. One she'd deal with once they got out of this situation. She turned to Argon squad quickly and mentally picking out which one of them was the strongest behind the twins and turned to Mike. "Sam, you go assist Santana. Puck you need to start evacuating the citizens. Mike you're going to help me coordinate from here. Get the ETA from the twins." Sue's hand moved to her ear. "This is your Commander, _all troops_ retreat now and regroup in Sector E's to G. Shannon, Cassandra, Carl and David I'm going to need you to coordinate a mass evacuation. This is _not a drill_."

* * *

Quinn hopped onto the hood of the Humvee that had just tried to ram into her at a high speed. Her lips twisted into a pleased smirk, she could smell William Schuester's fear from here. Quinn slammed her hand through the window and grabbed the driver's wrist and pulled him forward as he slammed on the brakes trying to send her flying. Unfortunately the action caused Quinn to lose a bit of her balance and she nearly went flying but her grip on his wrist saved her, as she accidentally wrenched it out of its socket. She winced at the scream that escaped his lips. "Oops." Sue did say that she could rough them up. Quinn let go of his wrist and jumped off the Humvee and headed to the door only to watch as Will's hand shot out and slammed his hand against the lock. Quinn shot him a look and rolled her eyes as she smashed the glass and unlocked the door. She pulled her hand away and opened the door deciding to flex her muscles a bit as she ripped the door off its hinges.

Will Schuester immediately pointed the paintball gun at Quinn but his hands were shaking and Quinn shot him a twisted grin. He pulled the trigger but the paintballs missed, "Shit—shit—shit." He said as Quinn grabbed the gun and crushed it in her hand and grabbed him by the leg and yanked him out of the Humvee. The impact of his back on the ground caused him to lose his breath.

"It took you long enough," Charlie said where she was pulling Ken and Sandy along the ground. She crinkled her nose, one of them had wet themselves in fear.

Quinn flicked her eyes to Charlie and smiled at her before frowning when she noticed that she only had Ken and Sandy. "Did you let two of them escape?"

"Of course not, I knocked two of them out and left them in a transport van and decided to drag these two along," Charlie said with a roll of her eyes. "I only have two hands Quinn and you got the easier job." Charlie said with an irritated sniff. Quinn got to have all the fun.

"You should have picked tails then," Quinn said quite pleased with herself as she ignored Will's kicking and screaming. She sighed and turned to him. With a sigh she leaned forward grabbing him by his jacket and slammed him back on the ground _hard_ , he was silent after that and still breathing and Quinn looked back at Charlie. "So do we win the game?"

Charlie hummed and shrugged, "I don't know, it's not much of a war game if no one—"

' _Charlie, Quinn—you two are needed in Sector E immediately. We've got a code red over here.'_ Mike's said, his voice coming to life in their ears. _'This is not a drill_. _So drop everything that you're doing and get your asses back here. Immediately._ '

Quinn frowned and looked at her twin who had an equally puzzled look on her face. Quinn sighed and looked at Will for a moment who looked groggy and then looked over at the Humvee for a moment. "I guess we'll have to come back later and pick them up. I'm driving." Quinn said dropping Will's foot and yanking out the groaning driver and tossing him onto Will. "You heard him Charlie lets go." Quinn said watching as Charlie dropped Sandy and Ken and moved to the other side of the car and opened the door and slid in.

"Mike, we're in Sector X. ETA twenty-five minutes," Charlie says as Quinn does a wide U-turn barely missing running over Will and speeds off.

Sue's voice is heard next. ' _We need you here in ten I don't give a fuck how fast you have to drive get here in ten._ '

Quinn frowned that definitely meant it was not a drill and she turns to Charlie, her eyes narrowing. "Not a drill?"

"Not a drill," Charlie echoes as she puts on her seatbelt and Quinn floors it.

* * *

Sam slammed into a car with enough force to tip the vehicle over onto its side. The steel frame was ruined, twisted around his body and he coughed. He hadn't even seen the last tentacle until it was too late. He coughed and he saw a red mist, blood droplets hitting his face. He most definitely had a collapsed lung. He swore mentally and rested his head on the twisted steel. "Fuck," he groaned.

Santana moved to his side studying the wreck, and biting her lip there was a piece of metal protruding through his chest and she winced. She knew enough about injuries to know that they shouldn't just rip it out of him, but it's not like she could get paramedics down here to cut him free. This whole area wasn't safe. " _Shit_ ," she swore under her breath hopping onto the car. She looks up and spots Puck. "You're going to need to get him out of here," she snaps at him and looks at Sam slapping him across the face. "You need to stay awake, and I'm sorry. This is going to hurt—a lot probably."

Sam nods feeling Santana's hands on his shirt and grabbing his belt. The motion is a quick jerk and he feels a sharp tearing pain as his vision swims. She was right it did hurt, it wasn't as bad as it could be but he doesn't even bother to look down, instead he feels light and then there is more pain as he feels strong arms around him moving him and a familiar smell. "Puckerman."

Puck moves quickly leaving the area as Santana reengages with the monster. He spots Sue who is waving them towards her and he changes directions, running towards her. "He got stabbed, lungs I think—he's losing a lot of blood," Puck says trying to keep his voice even and the panic out.

" _Shit_ ," Mike said immediately helping Puck place Sam on the ground. "We need a medic down here _immediately."_ Mike snaps into his earpiece.

Sue glances at Sam for a moment taking in the injury, "I've seen worse. Apply pressure to the wound, and make sure he stays awake. His body is going into shock right about now. But his healing should kick in to a point where he'll be stable so long as he stops losing blood."

Puck's hands immediately rip open Sam's jacket and he places his hands on the wound applying as much pressure as he can to the wound and he looks at Mike. "Where the _fuck_ are they?"

"They said they were ten minutes out. They're going as fast as they can and we've mobilized the half of the army that wasn't participating to clear a path for them." Mike informed him and looking at Santana who was still barely hanging on she was managing to distract it, as best as she can and barely avoid the tentacles that were shooting out and trying to grab her. He spoke to soon as one managed to latch around her ankle and it threw her against the building. _"Shit_." He wasn't even sure what the twins would manage to get close to it. The gunfire that they had managed to shoot towards the thing had only made it more incensed and moving close to it seemed like a suicide mission."

Santana grunted as she rolled onto her stomach, gasping for air. She was incredibly out of shape, this is what she got for eating all that junk food and not working out. She remembered the days that she could go longer and faster than this where a hit like this wouldn't even phase her. But that was before she had decided to hang it all up and just work on being a mechanic. She slammed her hand against the ground and pushed herself to her feet. She watched as other soldiers were thrown every which way and she had no idea how Quinn and Charlie were even going to get _close_ to the stupid thing. They had already lost three soldiers from Titanium who had been caught unaware and she was sure she had seen Rachel, Frannie and Brittany being escorted out by Puck. She wasn't quite sure but she needed to focus on the monster ahead of her. She had more than done her part and she watched as people from the various squad tried to bring this thing down. She felt _powerless_. Two years ago she was sure she could have put something like this down. She picked up a rock and threw it at the monster as hard as she could watching as one of the tentacles destroyed the rock and shot towards her. " _Shit_ ," she said her legs were dead tired and she closed her eyes, waiting for the pain to come.

Instead the squeal of Humvee tires seemed to distract the monster as a sole Humvee spun past a corner doing a sharp turn and began to drive straight towards it. The action was instantaneous as one of its tentacles shot out and slammed against the hood of the car stopping it dead in its tracks, and pushing the vehicle onto its two front wheels with all the pressure. The reaction caused the twins to bolt from the car and jump to the ground.

Charlie turned to Quinn studying the monster that was in front of them and her face twisted into one of disgust at the tentacles that were falling out of his mouth. "See, this is why we need swords Quinn."

"Sue said that we couldn't have them because we'd poke someone's eyes out," Quinn reminded her. Having something to deal with the clear tentacle problem would be nice. Charlie was right swords would come in handy right about now.

Charlie points to the monster, "Well that was before the tentacles!" Charlie tilted her head slightly, studying the monster carefully. They needed to do something about the tentacles, holding them down would be nice. She scanned the area and her nose crinkled ever so slightly at Santana who looked like she was about to collapse. "Quinn ideas?"

"I'll take high? You take low?" Quinn offers holding her fist out, which Charlie bumps. Once they got a good read on this thing they'd be able to come up with a better plan. But it was all she had for now. She eyes to the alien and glances at the rest of the modified soldiers who were pulling back and nods at Charlie who immediately takes off towards the monster. Quinn exhales and adjusts her body before moving, matching Charlie's quick pace as she jumps in the air while Charlie slides under one of the tentacles, barely dodging it. Being in the air doesn't give her much room to maneuver and Quinn quickly realizes how shitty this plan was when one of the tentacles stretches out and slams into her stomach sending her flying. She relaxes her body as she crashes through a window slamming into some desks and rolling and bouncing to a complete stop. "Ow." Quinn said to no one in particular her head hitting the ground. That had not been well thought out.

Charlie swore, she didn't have time to worry about Quinn at this point in time as she pushed herself out of harm's way a second later. They were definitely going to need to do something about the tentacles. She wondered if she could catch them and whenever Quinn returned if she could sever them. It'd make getting closer to the thing easier and it meant that they could finally move out on the offensive. Charlie ducked out of the way as another tentacle came crashing down and her hand shot out to try and grab the end of it but she was a touch to slow as the limb shot at her, grabbing her by the wrist and slamming her face first into the ground. " _Fuck_."

Sue stared at her two best soldiers, and closed her eyes and counted to five before putting her hand to her ear activating the communications. "Ladies. I am pretty sure that I trained the two of you _better than that_. Now will the two of you _stop fucking around and get finish this!_ " She snapped angrily.

Quinn sighed and pushed herself up rubbing her head, and walked to the shattered window and glanced down. She crinkled her nose and glanced around. She was far too high up to jump, sure she'd probably be fine but why risk it. She sighs and turns around and heads straight to the elevator pushing the button and waiting for it. She touches her ear, "Charlie?"

Charlie pushed herself up lazily and dusted herself off, "You got a plan?" Charlie asks seriously turning her attention back to the creature that's rampaging through the Citadel.

"Yes. Take out the tentacles, we'll make up the rest as we go along," Quinn said as the elevator door opens and she steps inside. She grumbles as the door closes and rotates her shoulders. " _Don't fuck around_ , she says." Quinn said doing a perfect imitation of Sue. "I don't see her down here putting her ass on the line." Quinn mutters under her breath.

Charlie snorts at this and tilts her head towards the alien that's still rampaging and sighs and looks around for something to use, but she sighs. It seems she's going to have to use her hands to hold it in place. There's already a gross slime around her wrist and she hopes it doesn't give her a rash. Charlie moves quickly as the rest of the soldiers engage and once again one of the tentacles lashes out at her. She's ready this time and braces herself letting it her full on in the chest. Immediately her hands wrap around it. Trying not to gag at the mucous like slime that's now covering her body and hands, as her fingers dig into the flesh, tearing into it and holding it there at it begins to thrash. Charlie digs her foot down pushing down. She's not quite sure how long she can hold this, because it's like wrestling a giant worm and she really just wants to let go.

Santana opened a car door that was on the street and she placed her foot on it and pushed hard ripping it off its handles. She picks it up with one hand and runs, hoping that its edges are enough to make one clean cut. The other tentacle is already lashing at Charlie hitting striking her heavily trying to push her off and Santana slams the car door along the taut tentacle with enough force to sever it. There's a loud screeching sound, that sounds like the alien is in pain and there's that nasty clicking again. The reaction is instantaneous as the other tentacle crashes into her sending her back and she feels her body bounce twice before it comes to a rest. Santana stares at the sky, and sees that ugly tentacle above her but she's so done, her body isn't moving anymore and she closes her eyes expecting it to be it.

"You're not just a mechanic." Charlie says as she catches the tentacle before it hits Santana who looks at her. "Stop pretending to be." Charlie says bluntly as she wrestles the tentacle to the ground, watching as Quinn picks up the door and brings it down against the tentacle. Charlie immediately drops the slack appendage and bends down to pat Santana's head. "You can rest now."

Santana weakly swats Charlie's hand away. "Fuck you," she mutters under her breath weakly.

Charlie smirks at her and looks at Quinn who is moving towards the alien that is now spiraling clutching its face in pain. Her punches don't really seem to be doing anything and Charlie walks over to one of the trucks and opens the door. She eyes the shaft and switches it to neutral before hopping out and walking behind it where she places her foot on the bumper and kicks it toward Quinn. "Catch." Charlie calls out to her twin.

Quinn turns at the last second catching the vehicle by its grill and with all the momentum she lifts the vehicle up and slams it on the head of the alien bringing it down to the ground. Quinn lifts the vehicle once more to check if that killed it but it moves and she sighs and begins to smash the car repeatedly on top of the alien hoping that it finally kills the damn thing. She pulls the car away once more and notices that its fingers are still twitching and she frowns because the car's practically scrap metal by now.

Sue stalks over to the alien, having grown tired of watching Quinn attempt to squish it like it was a bug and finishes loading her gun and moves to the alien, shoving Quinn aside and emptying her clip into its face. This time it works and it quickly becomes a mess of black goop and pieces of skull. "That's how you kill them. Armor piercing rounds." Sue snaps at Quinn who tosses the car to the side.

Charlie hums as she approaches her twin, still covered in goo which she's trying to wipe off her body and looks at the alien and sniffs. It's disgusting, the blood doesn't smell right and it smells so foreign but beneath all that there is a scent that she recognizes and she inhales deeply and looks at Quinn. Her twin looks at her and Charlie tilts her head and watches as Quinn takes a deep breath. "Smell that?" Charlie questions.

Sue tilted her head towards them. "The smell of 149 scum? Take it in and remember that smell—"

"No," Quinn said kneeling down and touching some of the black sludge. "That's the scent of one of the missing scouts. Well—it's distorted but it's still there. A tiny bit."

Sue's eyes snap to the corpse in front of her. "Are you sure?" She demands quietly. She's met with Quinn giving her a sour look and Charlie rolling her eyes. They hated being questioned and they always trusted their senses especially their sense of smell. "I see—I need you two to keep this information to yourself," Sue says so only the two of them can hear it. "Now we need to go see to the wounded—" Sue pauses and holds her hands up as she realizes that there are guns pointing at them and they're surrounded. "William, now is _not_ the time."

Will had his hand wrapped around his ribs a smug smile on his face. "The games aren't over."

Sue rested a hand on Charlie's shoulder and glanced at the video cameras that were still flying around. This was still being shown to those that were in safe areas. "Fine you win. Now I need to go take care of the living and plan a few funerals for my men. Where were yours?"

Will moved pulling his gun out and walking over to Quinn where he slammed the butt of his gun into her face, in response for earlier. "Your men _disabled them_ , do you know how many of my men that your pet monsters put in the infirmary?"

"You said we couldn't kill them," Charlie responded with a shrug. "You never said we couldn't do put them in the hospital."

Sue nodded her head, "That's true, but like I said, I need to go take care of the _living_ so if you'll please get the hell out of my way William." Will didn't move and Sue rolled her eyes and nodded at Quinn who slammed her fist into his face, knocking him out cold. Sue looked at his limp body and shook her head and stepped over him and went back to business.


	8. Chapter 8

" _Quinn_ , you need to stay still so I can get the splinters out," Charlie said annoyed as she swatted at Brittany who was trying to get a swab to analyze back at the lab of the mucus that was still covering her body. She felt gross and sticky, and she really just wanted to go home and have a long shower. But Sue had insisted that they get checked out at the hospital even though they _hated_ hospitals.

"Charlie just a small swab!" Brittany said huffing in irritation. "I would have gone to the tentacles themselves but Sue already had them burned immediately." Brittany grumbled as she reached for Charlie again only for Charlie to turn to her and glare. "Fine I'll just swab your clothes when you take them off."

"Quinn I said stay still!" Charlie said forcing Quinn down, so she could continue to pull out the splinters of wood and the shards of glass from Quinn's back.

Quinn grumbled, "I'd like to see you stay still when I'm pulling out pieces of glass and wood from your back," she responds in a snarky tone. Now that the adrenaline had worn off it sort of stung. She tried to relax and grimaced when Charlie removed yet another shard of glass. She tries to focus on something else and watches as Brittany approaches Charlie again getting a swab from the goop that's on the back of her neck. "What do you think it was?"

Charlie was quiet for a moment, before swatting at Brittany who was trying to get more samples causing her to pout. "I don't know." Charlie admits with a shrug pulling out a splinter from Quinn's shoulder. "All I know is that it killed Mac and the rest of Bromine squad, it killed a bunch of members from Titanium and it killed a lot of citizens. It also hurt Sam, but he's going to be okay according to Puck. We shouldn't threaten to throw him off the wall for a while, or you know dangle him over the wall."

Brittany paused for a second from where she was putting the swabs in a small container and looked at the twins. "You should get him a stuffed animal or a card so he knows that you care." Brittany lectured and they both turned to look at her and she puffed out her cheeks. She had forgotten all about her experiment with this new monstrosity that was walking around. She wanted to _know_ more, and her natural curiosity wasn't making it any better. If the 149 were back maybe she could make something that could help. "Quinn, you should also make sure that Rachel is okay and Charlie you need to talk to Santana and tell them both how helpful and awesome they were. Rachel saved a lot of people and she helped out a lot, and Santana helped keep the casualties down to a minimum even though she didn't want to fight."

Quinn tilted her head to give Brittany a look. She really had been bossy lately telling them what to do and how to behave. She was worse than Sue who just told them not to kill anyone and let them do whatever they wanted. "Are you experimenting on us again?" Quinn asks Brittany who flushed.

Brittany clears her throat twice wondering how she's going to explain this to them, and wondering if her experiment was ruined. This experiment would probably work best with the twins not knowing what the goal was. She already knew that it wasn't a proper experiment, there were quite a few biases that she was simply ignoring, to help her reach her goals. She was the only that could administer this test properly. "Well yes I have but—"

Charlie digs her fingers into Quinn's back painfully causing Quinn to hiss out in pain. "Do you know how much bacon we've been getting Quinn? Don't ruin a good thing."

Quinn blinked and nodded, Brittany was basically giving them the type of food that they wanted all the time. Charlie had a very legitimate point. She glanced at Brittany who looked upset and she reached over and took her hand. "It's okay, just keep giving us food and we'll forget that you're treating us like lab rats."

A relieved smile crosses Brittany's face, that she doesn't really have to explain what's going on, and she won't have to ruin her experiment by telling them what she's trying to do. "So you'll go see Santana and Rachel? I think they'd like to see you, as long as you're _nice_."

Charlie turns to Brittany who looks excited and she sniffs, but the hospital smells like blood and death all mixed in with that sterile smell. What she doesn't smell is bacon. "I don't see any bacon," she mumbles under her breath and Quinn snorts, causing Brittany to turn to her.

"What was that?" Brittany asked frowning a bit.

"Nothing," Quinn says as she sits up and reaches for her shirt and turns to look at her sister crinkling her nose at her. "You need to shower."

Charlie glanced down at her body, she had expected the slime to harden eventually so she could start peeling it off but it hadn't. At least it hadn't left a terrible rash. She had seen some of the unenhanced people breaking out into a rash. She made a face. "Let's go see Rachel and Santana first and then go make sure Sam is alright then we can sneak out the back and just go home. I get first dibs on the shower." Charlie calls out and Quinn grumbles at this.

Brittany smiled and was about to hug Charlie from behind but stopped, she was covered in goo so she moved to hug Quinn. "I'll bring as much bacon as possible tomorrow—but I don't think Frannie's going to let me out of her sight. But I'll try to bring as much as I can."

Quinn gives Brittany an awkward hug back, she finally shifts and pulls away from Brittany and motions for Charlie to follow her. "Who do you want to see first?" Quinn asks, trying to ignore the bustle of a busy hospital. Nurses and doctors rushing past them, they would be more than worked to the bone tonight and Quinn steps aside as they round a corner. "Rachel and Santana are probably—" Quinn stopped and looked down at the child who had approached them. Quinn crinkled her nose and looked at Charlie who shrugged. She sighed and forced a smile onto her lips. "Hello little human child? Where are your parents?"

The boy looked down and swallowed nervously, his friends totally wouldn't believe this that he was talking to the twins, but he wanted to say thank you. "Thank you—for saving us," he manages to get out and looks up to see that the twins have tilted their head and are staring at him like he's the weird one. "From the monster—and you saved a lot of people and I wanted to let you know that I wanted to be just like you when I grow up."

Charlie blinks at child oddly confused. They were used to children running away from them or having their parents pull them away. "You're welcome?" she says and looks at Quinn who is still staring at the child like it's a miniature alien. Charlie nudges Quinn and she pats the boy on the head clumsily. "We've got to go see if our—friends are alright. So excuse us mini-human?"

Quinn quickly sidestepped him and pulled Charlie along, "That was weird," she mutters to Charlie glancing back at the kid who is smiling and waving at them. "Move faster," she throws in and the two of break off into a light jog. They finally round another corner and they go about their regular pace looking for Rachel and Santana, and it doesn't take them long to find Rachel sitting by Santana. Quinn walks in and pulls Charlie along with her. "Rachel."

Rachel looks up and relaxes when she sees that it's just the twins. She had been expecting Will to show up and start yelling at her. They're just standing there awkwardly and Rachel flashes them a small smile. For once she's glad to see them, she had watched them on one of the undamaged screens taking on the rampaging monster. People were saying it was one of the 149, but she wasn't quite sure. She didn't want to really think about, and she was personally sure she'd be having nightmares for quite a while. "Quinn I don't think you need to watch me tonight, I don't think Will could find me even if he wanted to. Not with how busy and full the hospitals are. If you want to go home and rest—well you did save the Citadel."

Confusion crossed Quinn's face as she stares at Rachel, "I thought you hated it here?" All she heard from Rachel was how much she disliked the Citadel. How she wanted to be free. She thought she'd be happy that something bad had happened to it. Upset that she stopped it.

"I don't like it here, not really. But it does have some good things about it. Like your hospitals—I mean you have medicine and doctors and nurses that know what they're doing. I saw soldiers helping people, and pulling people from the rubble, and trying to protect people. I mean there are _good_ things about this place. You know the doctors didn't even treat Santana badly, and they're making sure she's getting the care she needs, and I didn't need to give up my first born child to get help. I guess it's just—overwhelming when you've been out there for so long and coming here and it's so noisy and there are so many people and you don't quite feel like you fit in." Rachel says settling in, the doctors said that Santana might be released tonight.

Quinn frowned for a moment at Rachel's words, not quite sure what to make of Rachel's statement so she instead turns to Charlie who has approached Santana's side. She did understand what Rachel meant, she liked being on the opposite side of the wall, and coming back to the Citadel was sometimes hard for her. She flicked her eyes to Rachel for a moment studying her again as Charlie began to pester Santana.

Charlie looked at Santana and poked her forehead. "You know—you look like shit." Charlie said ignoring the exasperated look on Santana's face as she continued to pour salt in her injured pride. "You're out of shape, and you wouldn't even be here if you just fought me like I've been telling you to. You should listen to me more."

It was _incredibly_ easy to resist the urge to smack Charlie, because her arms felt like lead and she already knew she had a few spiral fractures and broken ribs. "If I had decided to fight you, I'd still be here, with probably the same injuries," Santana said, she was too tired to deal with Charlie.

"Probably," Charlie agreed and looked around. "So are you done pretending that you're _just_ a mechanic?"

Santana sighs, "I _like_ fixing cars, I don't end up in the hospital fixing cars," she says and winces a bit. "But I do need to get back into fighting shape."

Charlie smiles and pats her head. "Good, I'll help you'll start sparring with me tomorrow."

"She will be doing _nothing_ of the sort!" Rachel said immediately. "She's got broken bones and the doctor said that she should rest for a few days after she gets home."

Santana smiled at Rachel who was looking at Charlie angrily, "After the doctor clears me, I was going to start working out with Sam and Mike. Mike said that while Sam's getting better, it'll probably be more my speed to start off with."

A sour look appeared on Charlie's face and she turned to Quinn. "I changed my mind Quinn, we don't have to be nice to him anymore." She pulled away from Santana annoyed with her. "Let's go home."

Quinn snorted at Charlie's annoyance that she wasn't getting what she wanted. "The bacon remember?" Charlie's nose crinkled at this and Quinn tilted her head towards the exit. "Let's go tell Sam we hope he feels better and then go home."

Charlie huffed as she followed Quinn out. "She should want to practice with the best and I'm the best!" Charlie said indignantly knowing that Santana could hear her. "That's why I practice with you," she grumbles.

Quinn let it slide, this time, she really wanted to get home and she didn't think that Sue would appreciate them getting into it in a fully packed hospital. She asked a nurse where Sam was located and she was mildly surprised when the nurse actually took them there herself. People were acting strange. They were actually being _nice_ and it bothered her. They had just done their job—poorly according to Sue. She shrugged and poked her head into Sam's room and looked at Puck and Mike. "Is he alright?"

Mike blinked and looked at Quinn and Charlie, who had a petulant look on her face. "Yes—he's just resting. The wound already began to close up by the time we got him here but he did lose a lot of blood so they gave him a transfusion, and he's just resting now. I think it'll be about two weeks before he's cleared for even light duty, even though his lung is repairing itself its better safe than sorry. What are you two doing here?"

"We came to check in on the traitor—" Quinn's elbow slammed into Charlie's side and she grumbled at this and flashed Mike a smile. "Sam. We came to check in on Sam."

Puck gave them a suspicious look, "Since when do you two care?" They had never bothered to check in on them when they were injured before. They just went about their business like nothing had happened.

Quinn wondered if Brittany would be upset if she told them that she didn't really care. Sam was fine he was going to be okay. She didn't really understand why they were panicked. Sam was relatively strong. He was going to be fine. "Of course we do."

"We do?" Charlie echoes and Quinn shoots her a look. "We do."

Puck gives them a suspicious look but he can't be bothered with the twins being fucking weird again. It was their usual behavior anyway. "Good job out there," he says finally.

Mike nods and turns to the twins, "You managed to kill it—I mean the whole city is going to be talking about it for weeks. I think Sue wanted to do some propaganda films with the two of you in it, to get the people on our side." Mike sighed and looked at Sam. "Look you two go home and get some rest we'll call you if anything changes with Sam."

Quinn nods and pauses for a moment as she looks at Sam, he's been intubated, but the machine is steadily beeping and his heart seems strong. "He's going to be fine," she said completely sure of herself and Charlie nods before they walk out.

* * *

"In case you haven't realized this emergency meeting is a waste of my time," Sue said. "I have _dead_ to bury and while I have my best Lieutenants organizing the search and rescue, I should be there helping and visiting the wounded." Sue crossed her arms as she studied the council.

Will Schuester frowned as he held the ice pack to his face, Quinn had definitely knocked out a few teeth with that last punch and he had already scheduled a meeting for the dentist tomorrow to get his broken teeth fixed. "For someone who just lost, you should be more concerned with what the Council has to say."

Sue turned to him, perhaps she should have had the twins deal with him. His stupidity and incompetence was _grating_. "We both know you didn't win Will. I _conceded_ because there was a very real threat to the people. There were wounded that needed to be taken care of. I didn't have time to play your games Will. Your army was _useless_ , and it's my men that weren't involved in the battle that are out there making sure that we save as many people as we can."

"I _had you surrounded!_ " Will argues back.

"Please William, you're embarrassing yourself. The twins were right there and with all that adrenaline that was pumping through their bodies I'm sure that they could have torn through what was left of your army, except this time there wouldn't be any restraint." Sue says dismissively. She turns back to the council. "After today I fully expect that you won't withhold any resources. Today was _sloppy_ , I fully admit that and I know that with the right resources I can have my army in tip-top shape. It's been _years_ since anyone has had to fight a 149 or any of their bastard experiments that are running around outside these walls."

Frannie frowned, she agreed that right now that this was a complete waste of time, "There are still hundreds if not thousands of people that need our help and emergency resources. I say we convene this meeting and deal with it _after_ the crises has been dealt with. Then we can argue about the budget."

"You can't seriously be considering giving her whatever she wants she _lost_ ," Will said standing up—it lasts for a second as he feels woozy and needs to take a seat.

"No William, Sue's right she didn't lose. Even before the Citadel went to hell in a handbasket, Sue was _winning_. She only took half of her army and two of her soldiers cut through the bulk of your army and captured you before they needed to go back and fight to protect this Citadel. Truthfully no one honestly expected you to win," Holly said in a bored tone.

Figgins nodded and looked at William, he liked him. He truly did, but this needed to be done. "This emergency meeting wasn't called to discuss Sue. It's to discuss you William," Figgins said watching as Will's head whipped to look at him. Even Sue seemed surprised by this. "Sue's right, your actions given the circumstances were deplorable and what's even more important is that the people have lost confidence in your ability to lead. Your men have _done nothing_ to help with the current crises. Sue has shown true leadership skills and we would be _remiss_ , if we didn't show that we heard the people. Which is why I'm proposing you are removed from your post, and Sue take command of your army."

William's jaw dropped and he heard a cracking sound and he winced, "Sue you want to give my command to _Sue?_ " He dragged his eyes to Russell who looked equally shocked by this news.

The surprise was replaced by Russell's calculating look, "Let's not be too hasty, William is a _fine_ leader, and what's more important he has the confidence of his men." Russell said. "We can't simply just replace him without giving this careful consideration. And let's not forget that the men will most _likely_ not be willing to follow the command of a genetically modified soldier." Russell turned to his daughter expecting Frannie to back him.

Frannie frowned slightly at her father's expectant look, and studied the situation. Surprisingly Figgins had a valid point. The confidence in William's leadership was non-existent and right now the genetically modified soldiers were more popular than ever. With her sisters being viewed as the conquering heroes. But she knew Sue and she was unhinged to put it mildly, and giving her the reigns to the entirety of the army when she allowed her own soldiers to run wild seemed like a terrible idea. "The best solution to this problem would be to have Sue and William work together to get William's branch of the army in working order." Frannie said and Russell turned to her, and she ignored the incensed look on his face. She was far too tired and indifferent to care about her father's rage right now. She needed to make sure that Brittany was safe and wasn't getting herself in trouble.

Figgins paused, that actually seemed like good idea even though it seemed like Sue was about to have an aneurysm and Will looked like he was about to start whining. "I believe that for the interim that sounds like a solid plan but I truly believe that we should look to bridge the gap and begin a full integration."

"I don't think you understand, my soldiers won't work with any genetically modified freaks," Will said snapped angrily.

Sue scoffed at this dismissively. "As unprofessional as your men are, the vast majority of my men won't mind working with unenhanced soldiers that prove that they are adequate support. Unfortunately as it is right now, none of your men can do that and their presence will only slow them down and distract them." Truthfully she doubted that any of her squads wanted to work in tandem with unenhanced soldier's period, but she could always force the issue. Though she was sure the twins would just accidentally kill anyone she assigned to their squad if they were useless.

Russell rolled his eyes and stood up, "In case you didn't realize we're still in a crises, and this right now is a waste of my time," he needed to put a stop to this before they voted and this became a thing. He'd need to do some damage control, if only Sue could be bought. "I say we reconvene and discuss this in length before anything is decided and we go back to making sure our constituents are okay."

"Agreed," Frannie said getting up and without waiting to be excused. She wanted to go see Brittany and make sure she was okay.

* * *

"Rachel, I can walk just fine," Santana said with a sigh shaking her head as Rachel fussed over her. "My bones are already mending, it might take some time but I'll heal, and it doesn't even really hurt." Santana gently pulled away from Rachel, her muscles ached, like she had just run a marathon. Hopefully by tomorrow she wouldn't feel the damage, she pauses for a moment when she notices their front door is open. "Rachel—I'm pretty sure that you didn't leave the door open."

Rachel turns to the apartment and she can feel a pressure around her chest, wondering who it is. Santana's not in any condition to fend off an attack and she's weaponless. She glances at the twin's door which is closed and she wonders if she should knock and ask Quinn for help. She bites her lip for a moment, "Maybe we should ask the twins," she whispers to Santana, looking for her for advice. It would mean they were indebted to them, but she had images of another one of those aliens rummaging around in her apartment.

Santana shifts and she groans a bit. If this was a real threat then she wasn't going to be able to handle it, and with all the confusion the idea that there might be looters around didn't escape her. She was sure she could deal with one or two humans. Her pride wouldn't be able to deal with Charlie mocking her let alone telling her what she should be. "I got this Rachel, I just—" Santana paused for a moment as she heard the shower turn off and footsteps, her sense of smell was not what it should be she could still smell hospital. It clung to everything and she didn't like it. With a small grunt she pushes Rachel behind her. "Come out," she says forcefully letting her voice carry. There are footsteps that sound wet against their hardwood floors and Santana tenses for a moment till she sees a flash of wet blonde hair and Quinn wrapped up in what looks to be Rachel's towel. " _Quinn?_ "

Quinn tilts her head and looks at Santana and waves at her, smiling when she sees Rachel who immediately pokes her head from behind Santana. "Charlie wouldn't get out of the shower, she said something about how there was goo in her hair that she couldn't get out and I really needed a shower, so I borrowed yours." She says this in a tone that makes it seem like she hadn't just been doing something completely illegal.

Rachel stares at Quinn, her anger bubbling over. Did she have no sense of common decency! "Quinn you can't just use our stuff when we're not there! We thought you were a burglar!" She's close to yelling now. "And why are you using _my towel! Give it back!"_

Quinn blinks at Rachel who is yelling at her, "Brittany breaks in all the time. I'm sure she'll bring you some snacks if you ask her nicely," Quinn said as she pulled the towel off, causing Rachel to turn a bright red as her mouth drops and she stands their completely naked. Quinn holds the towel out not in the least bothered by her nudity. "Sorry I forgot my towel," she said, but Rachel doesn't take it from her. Quinn stares at her for a moment before sighing and tossing it at her. She looks up at Santana who is staring at her in some form of shock. Quinn tilts her head at her staring at her, and Santana immediately looks away.

Rachel grabs her towel and she forces herself to not look down and to meet Quinn's eyes. "Do you have an _aversion to wearing clothing—_ you—you— _nudist!"_ She sputters angrily.

Quinn smirks at Rachel and moves closer, watching as Santana immediately stumbles backwards not getting involved, "If you didn't enjoy staring at my body, there'd be no reason for the nudity," Rachel's face is a bright red and Quinn smirk grows wider when she flicks her eyes downwards and she's about to go in for the kill, when the door to their apartment and Charlie sticks her head out.

"Quinn! I need more shampoo can you get some from San—" Charlie pauses and looks at Rachel and Santana. "Oh you're back." She didn't seem perturbed to see Quinn naked in front of Rachel and her twin turns to look at her. Charlie ignores Santana still miffed that she had chosen Sam of all people to spar with. "I still need their shampoo so if you could get some for me before you head back here." She was sure there was still slime in her hair.

Santana turns to Charlie only realizing that she's naked and dripping wet, and she flicks her eyes over her body appreciatively for a moment before realizing what Charlie just implied. "Are you taking our stuff?"

Charlie blinks and turns to Santana, "We thought you were giving us permission, you never said anything about it before."

Rachel twitches angrily at this statement, "We _did not give you permission!_ How would you like it if we broke into your apartment and—and took your stuff? And will you two _put on some clothes!_ "

"Brittany breaks in all the time," Quinn points out and moves to go back into their apartment so she can get Charlie the shampoo. She stops when Rachel grabs her arm and she looks at her. "Rachel if you want to—you have to wait till I get Charlie some shampoo."

Rachel immediately lets go of Quinn's arm. "No. Get out! Put some clothes on and then _knock on the door and ask like a normal person!_ In fact that's what you're going to do from now on! No more breaking and entering you're going to ask for things that belong to us! And if we're not at home that is _not_ an invitation to just enter anyway, you can wait. It's not life or death." She eyes the twins keeping her eyes locked on theirs. "Do I make myself clear?"

Charlie tilted her head at Rachel for a moment and then looked back at Quinn, "That shampoo Quinn, I _know_ it's still in my hair."

Quinn nods and walks into the apartment again, ignoring the fact that Rachel's jaw dropped at this and Santana's palm met her face and she let out a frustrated groan. She returns with the shampoo and tosses it at Charlie who catches it. "There you go," she smiles.

Rachel lets out an exasperated groan, "Where in the world were you raised?" she says giving up. They were stuck with the neighbors from hell.

Quinn turned to Rachel and shrugged. "A lab." She answers truthfully the smile on her face fading a bit when Rachel turns to her and she sees a look she doesn't like. Pity, it looks like pity and she frowns and looks at Santana. It was no longer fun playing with them anymore. "Goodnight Rachel." She said and nodded at Santana before walking back to their apartment and closing the door.

Rachel blinked and looked at Santana, she was definitely missing something especially when Santana sighed, but right now she felt invaded and disrespected. She wondered if she could ask Brittany to make her a lock that could keep modded humans out. She flicked her eyes to the twin's door, it was deathly quiet and she sighed. Well the only positive side was she was now no longer thinking of that alien thing and she had burned the image of Quinn's naked body, the abs and the breasts into her mind. It was certainly more pleasant to think about, than an alien rampaging through the city.


	9. Chapter 9

Sue tossed the massive amounts of paperwork aside, she remembered her glory days when she'd be out there _fighting_ for her Citadel. Now she was stuck behind a desk all day and the only amusement she had was training the next generation. Well that had been her only source of entertainment. Now there was much more going on in the Citadel, missing scouts, the new alliance between Russell Fabray and William Schuester, monsters attacking the Citadel and for the first time in decades the genetic mod program was being hailed as heroes instead of menaces. She couldn't count how many requests for interviews she had needed to deny for the twins. She needed to control the story and she needed to control them and keep them in line if they were going to be doing _any_ interviews and right now she simply didn't have time.

Not with the council arguing over William's role and whether they should start integrating both armies, to be considerably more efficient. She was unsure what to make of Russell putting tremendous pressure to keep them apart. They had been deadlocked for days with people switching sides. She loathed Russell Fabray with a passion but, even she had to reluctantly admit that he knew how to play the game far better than she did. Sue looked at the papers in front of her, designs for new equipment that would start training her men to deal with the threat of the 149—or whatever that monster was.

However all this could wait, she _needed_ to make certain that things were running smoothly after the incident. They had buried their dead—it had been so long since anyone had been killed in action that she had spent hours looking for the speeches that she had needed to give. She had finally given up and simply talked about them as individuals, about their skills and accomplishments. Things had been somber, and even Combustion was a sober affair. Her injured soldiers were all trying to return to active duty immediately and she was _grateful_ for their loyalty for their willingness to protect their home at all costs but most of the time it wasn't helpful. Morale was down and she needed to do _something_.

She left her office and headed down to the training grounds, where her various lieutenants were leading several different squads in drills, making sure that their skills were back up to par. She had raised standards once again, adding things to their assessment exam. Even though the citizens were grateful and still cheering for them. It had been far too sloppy, far too many casualties, far too much damage to public property. Yes the twins had been able to stop it but she shouldn't have needed to call them, they couldn't rest all their hopes on the twins, and maybe that was the problem. The idea that the twins would handle it, that the twins could handle anything. While she suspected that they hadn't even begun to scratch the surface of their potential that way of thinking was _dangerous_. Sue stopped her inspection and closed her eyes and counted to ten. Especially since the twins happened to be her laziest soldiers. Charlie and Quinn were sitting watching what appeared to be Sam sparring with Santana. Two people Sue personally knew had not been cleared for active duty. She's about to say something when Charlie's voice rings out.

"BOO! You couldn't fight your way out of a cardboard box!" Charlie says loudly.

Quinn nods at this statement, this isn't the most interesting fight she'd ever seen as she leans back. "Charlie? Why are they fighting their way out of a cardboard box? That doesn't make any sense." Quinn frowns.

Charlie's nose crinkles at this and her brow furrows, "Puck said that's what you should say when you're trying to smack talk someone. But you're right it doesn't make any sense."

Quinn thinks for a moment, "You couldn't fight well enough to keep me from putting you in a cardboard box!" She shouts at Santana and Sam who turn to look at her and she smiles proudly at Charlie.

Charlie grins at this. "That makes more sense. You're really good at smack talk Quinn, you should do it more."

"What are you two doing?" Sue asked calmly as she placed her hand on their heads causing the twins to immediately look up at her.

Quinn looks up at Sue and then at Charlie and immediately moves to try and escape from the pain that they know is coming but instead her head collides with Charlie's as Sue lets them go to clutch at their heads. " _Fuck_! We were just giving helpful advice to Sam and Santana!" Quinn snaps at Sue.

Charlie rubs her face groaning, she hated when Sue did that. "We aren't even duty! And we haven't threatened to kill anyone yet!" Charlie adds.

Sue flicked her eyes away from the twins, "After your pitiful performance against that monster, I would _think_ that you'd be trying to _better_ yourself like Sam and Santana are doing." Sue said resisting the urge to pinch the bridge of her nose. There was no competition for them, and they had reached a plateau.

Quinn glanced at Sam and Santana who were continuing to fight, "We'll be ready next time. We'll be able to put it down quicker next time."

"I doubt that," Sue said causing the twins to look at her. "You two _do not_ take these things seriously and you don't take your training seriously like everyone else. You got lucky that you're durable and whatever that thing was—I don't think it was complete. If what you told me is true, I don't think that was a 149 but something else entirely. I'm not sure if the 149 are involved or it's something more sinister. You want to make friends and have the respect of the rest of the army instead of their general resentment then let them see you busting your ass just as hard as they are instead of coasting on the fact that your modifications are superior." Sue tilted her head watching as Santana locked up with Sam and managed to keep him at a standstill for a moment before she pushed him back. Sam was ranked in the top fifteen on pure strength alone, he spent most of his time working on it, and for Santana to be able to push him back, even with Sam being injured was a feat on its own. Just like how she had managed to hold her own against the monster, there was more than met the eye when it came to Santana. "How strong is she?" she murmured mostly to herself.

"I don't know," Charlie said in a bored tone. "She's out of shape, but she's still faster and stronger than at least _half_ of your soldiers. She managed to break my nose. She won't fight me so I can't gauge her skills properly if I were to take a guess. Maybe top thirty over all."

"Really?" Quinn said turning to look at Santana no wonder Charlie was all but obsessed with Santana fighting her. "I want to fight her too then."

"Wait your turn," Charlie snipped at Quinn. She wasn't having it, Quinn might break her and then Santana would never fight her and she'd be eternally bored.

"And she wants to waist her time being a _mechanic_?" Sue asked crinkling her nose at this. A wasted resource indeed, if Charlie thought she was top thirty then she was most certainly interested and she made her way down to where Sam and Santana were going at it, sweat pouring down Sam's face, with his lung still healing he was only working with one. Under non-stressful circumstances he'd be fine but he was under pressure. "Enough."

Sam turned to look at Sue, "I can still continue, I just need to get a bit of air and—"

"I said enough." Sue said calmly and turned to look at Santana, "Shall we?"

Santana blinked and stared at Sue, and then looked up at Charlie and Quinn. Quinn was attempting to hold Charlie back from marching down there. "Look—I just wanted to get back into shape—I don't want to be a soldier anymore and if you can keep the twins in line through brute force then you have to be strong—" Santana hit the ground as Sue attacked her. She swore and quickly scrambled to her feet to avoid Sue's next attack barely dodging.

"Come on Santana. She's _old as dirt—_ " Quinn lunged at Charlie covering her twin's mouth before she got them into even more trouble.

"Will you _shut up_ , she can hear you! She's not _that_ deaf," Quinn hisses at Charlie.

Santana swore as she hit the ground hard, very hard. She had no idea what was going on but she needed to do something and hitting her Commander seemed like a poorly thought out plan but she was running out of space and she needed to do something to get Sue to stop. She managed to get up as Sue approached her again and exhaled slowly. The twins were faster than Sue was, but even then she couldn't get a good read on their abilities _most_ of the time. She lunged forward with the same spin kick that she had launched at Charlie at their first meeting, but unfortunately she must have projected the move because Sue caught her foot. Santana didn't hesitate twisting her body as her hand slammed against the ground to brace herself as she tried her other leg.

Sue blinked at this barely having time to dodge the second foot, her hand was throbbing and that hadn't been well thought out at all. It was like getting the twins to punch her. She hated getting _old_. Charlie had made a good assessment of Santana's skills but these flashy attacks were silly and completely impractical. Sue sighed and moved kicking Santana's arm out from under her causing her to fall into a heap on the ground-face first. Sue dropped Santana's leg and adjusted her jacket walking past her. "Sloppy." Sue said motioning for the twins to come to her.

Santana slammed her hands on the ground as she pushes herself up. She hadn't gotten her ass handed to her in a long time, she had at least managed to get a few good strikes in against Charlie, but Sue seemed to be on a whole different level. Sloppy was turning your back on an opponent who wasn't completely out of it just yet. Santana moved quickly and launched an attack at Sue from behind, only to have Sue dodge it. She felt someone grab her foot and pull hard, yanking the limb out from under and she tumbled forward. She recovered once again and threw a punch, which was deftly blocked and then another one trying to get past defensive wall. Once again her legs were pulled from underneath her and she looked to see Sue who still had an unimpressed look on her face. She's about to push herself up and launch herself at Sue again when she feels pressure on her upper back and the top of her head. Santana glances at the twins who are on either side of her, holding her down.

"Enough don't be stupid. Rachel will start yelling at me if you get hurt again," Quinn said eying Sue.

Charlie eyes Sue for a moment and then back at Santana patting her head. "Just tap out now and you probably won't get a trip to the hospital Santana."

Santana struggled against them for a moment only to have them push down on her hard keeping her pinned and she sighs and taps. Immediately the pressure is off her and she looks up at Sue who walks by her once more. " _Shit_."

"We'll have a discussion about your role in my military later, carry on." Sue said walking past the three of them and nodding at Sam who had been watching the events.

A horrified look crossed Santana's face as she suddenly realizes that impressing Sue with her combat skills may _not_ have been her best move. _"Fuck!"_ She feels Charlie patting her on the head again.

* * *

Brittany _loved her girlfriend_. There was no doubt in her mind that she was going to marry Frannie one day and get her pregnant. But right now, she needed a bit of space from Frannie. Ever since that alien had attacked Frannie had been calling to check in on her, like she was afraid that _something_ was going to happen. It made working near impossible and not answering her was _worse_ , because then Frannie would simply show up and demand to see her. It had been endearing for the first two days, but she didn't like to be babied or treated like she couldn't handle herself. She was a genius, her two best friends were the strongest genetically modified soldiers in the Citadel who she had tamed with a very steady diet of bacon. She was currently ignoring Frannie's calls because she had been focused on the goo that she had been collected from Charlie. It was the most fascinating sample that she had gotten in a long time and there was something odd about it. She was going to finish sequencing the DNA today.

"Um—Dr. Pierce?"

Brittany looked up at her assistant and sighed groaning. She knew that look of mild terror on her face could only mean one thing. "If its Frannie again tell her that I'll see her when I get home where we'll have a long talk about personal space—"

"Um not the right Fabray," her assistant said.

Brittany frowned, the twins never stepped foot _inside_ her building, they didn't like scientists. She was the exception, the only exception to the rule. They would wait for her on the top of her building but never on the _inside_. "Who?" Brittany asked pushing herself away from the light microscope.

"It's _Mr. Fabray_ , he's requesting a meeting with you," her assistant squeaked lowering her voice.

Brittany paused for a long moment, well that certainly explained why Frannie had been calling her nonstop all day, she _probably_ should have picked up. She didn't _like_ Russell Fabray—no she hated him. She didn't hate anyone but she _hated_ Russell Fabray. If the twins wouldn't get in any trouble or get caught for murdering him—she'd be having some ethical debate in her head which always ended with Russell dying. She swallowed as she began to walk to her office, the last time that she had a one on one conversation with Russell hadn't gone well for her at all. He had made her feel incredibly— _worthless_. She entered her office where he was studying her small library and she clears her throat to catch his attention. "Mr. Fabray." Brittany said calmly as she moved to go sit behind her desk.

Russell Fabray _smiled_ brightly at her and moved out of her way allowing her to sit down, "Brittany, you know how many times I've told you to call me Russell."

Brittany stared at him for a moment and exhaled slowly, she could do this. "It's _Doctor_ Pierce. I have several PhD's. I earned the title," Brittany said sitting back and looking at Russell. "Only my friends call me Brittany and the last time I checked—we aren't friends. You're just Frannie's father, so I have to be somewhat pleasant to you at family dinners. So let's just get to why you're really here."

Russell's smile faded ever so slightly, "Well, I should have known that I couldn't get one by the ' _smartest'_ person in the Citadel." His tone was mocking as he said it as he took a seat in front of her. "You know, you could have been simply astounding and far more useful if you had decided to work for the military. It's quite a shame that Frannie could only do _half_ of the job that I assigned to her." Brittany flashes him a confused look and he smiles. "You didn't know? Of course Frannie wouldn't tell you about that. How I told her to do _anything_ possible, whatever it took to get you to trust her. I had heard about your proclivities in school. Sending Frannie to be that person was—well simple."

Brittany frowned at this, she knew all of this of course. Frannie had told her all this years ago. So this didn't come to a surprise to her but Russell turning so openly on his daughter meant that things were getting bad for her. So she swallows and does what she did for years before people found out that she was a genius. Played stupid. "I don't understand—"

"I _told her to fuck you_ , to spread her legs for you and wine and dine you, Romance you, do whatever it took. Everyone in this Citadel has a purpose and that was Frannie's." Russell smiles at this and crosses his legs leaning back. "Unfortunately for the both of us she has _outlived_ her usefulness. For some reason she thinks that she has _actual_ power, and she's forgotten her place."

Brittany frowned at this getting annoyed at this, she knew all this, and she knew what Frannie had done. Frannie hadn't kept that from her they had taken a break and they were now together and she _knew_ Frannie loved her. "Frannie—I love your daughter and—"

"I know you do. You have this unhealthy obsession with the members of my family. Frannie, the two monsters that I accidentally spawned and my wife _refused_ to get rid of. They can't even die when I want them to." Russell said in annoyance. He sighed all that it meant was that Brittany would be extremely easy to manipulate.

Brittany's mouth snapped shut at this and she frowned not liking where this was going. "Frannie isn't disposable, she's not. People aren't disposable—you can't just get rid of them when you're done." She wondered what Russell's excuse was, the twins had been isolated so interacting with others was difficult for them and there were things that they didn't understand.

"Well, I imagine this is where we'll have to disagree. As you know, the election is coming up, and you do know how much Frannie enjoys her seat on the council and right now she's currently unopposed, but I can find someone else in a heartbeat. Someone—far more charismatic, someone far more charming and someone who will be completely in my pocket as they say. I can get this done in a matter of moments unless you finally decide to become _useful_ to this Citadel. There's a military project that I know that with your general expertise will turn this Citadel around and quite possible change the course of this planet. A golden age for humanity again."

Brittany was quiet for a moment and studies Frannie's father wondering if she could get away with vaporizing him. "Do you know how _difficult_ it is to be me Mr. Fabray? I have so many ideas and I know that they're good ideas, I know that they can quite possibly change the world." She wasn't bragging—this was just a fact. Like the twins were simply the strongest people in the city. These were just facts. "I _love_ your daughter, because she doesn't treat me like I'm weird or strange, and she doesn't get mad when I go off on a tangent because I honestly can't just switch it off. Part of my mind is thinking of solutions to all sorts of problems all the time. I could have joined the military when I graduated as I worked through my first PhD. I could have created some weapons of mass destruction in my sleep, but I couldn't _live_ with myself if my ideas were used to _hurt_ people. So maybe I'll never reach my full potential—but I refuse to let my ideas be _weaponized_. I refuse to have any of my projects weaponized so _no_. I'm _not_ going to join the military to help you on some project." Brittany takes a deep breath to calm her nerves. "Frannie wouldn't want me to compromise myself to help her and—I know she can _win_ without you."

"Is that so? In a time when the twins are more popular than ever and Frannie's out campaigning about how a menace the genetic modification community is? My daughter is many things, but she's cold and people don't _like_ her. The only reason she's won is because she's run unopposed or the people who she is running against made her look like an angel compared to her." Russell smiled at her. "When Frannie loses and tailspin because she doesn't quite know how to be _useful_ anymore she'll turn on you when she finds out that you could have saved her but didn't. Frannie was always a vindictive child." Russell gets up and flashes Brittany a smile. "Something to think about, and if you think that's all I can do. The worst that I can do to hurt you Brittany, don't even get me started on the damage I can do to the twins. You think the Citadel loves them now? Wait until I'm done with them. You won't have anyone around you when I'm done with you. What do you think the twins will do to you when they find out that you have several vials of their blood in storage?"

Brittany paled, "How did you—"

Russell hummed. "As a scientist you should _know_ that knowledge is power. Information is power. The things I know," Russell smiled at her. "Now that unpleasantness is over, my wife would like to invite you and Frannie to dinner this weekend. She insists, something about her world famous meatloaf. So bring your appetites." With that he walks out of her office and leaves Brittany once again feeling frightened and alone.

* * *

Rachel studied the new bruises all over Santana's face, it had taken all her willpower not to smack Santana herself as she listened slowly as to how she had gotten them. She had been about to march over to the twin's place and give them a piece of her mind when Santana had informed her that this hadn't been their fault. She exhales slowly when Santana finishes her story. "Is this a mod thing? Not listening to the advice of doctors who _told you to rest_. Is it—gibberish to you! You could have been _seriously hurt_ Santana! You said yourself that you saw Sue take out the twins with _ease_ and you _fought with her_! You know that's going to put you on her radar and that's the _last_ thing we need. She'll try and make you into a soldier."

Santana winced at this, it was her real fear and she didn't know what had gotten into her. It had been ages since she had fought this much or at all. "I'm not going to be a soldier again—but ever since that alien attack—I just—" Santana sighs. "I don't know, I mean Sam is our _friend_. I mean yeah sure he's got a weird face, but he's our friend. Frannie was right—I do have the power to help out. We can't keep relying on the twins to bail us out every time we're in trouble. We can't—especially since I do know how to fight and I'm tired of not doing anything when I should."

Rachel frowned ever so slightly at this as she pulled away to make some dinner. Santana had been genetically modified, they had violated her body in the worst way and yet she had taken control of her life and made something out of it. The things she had done—it would be easy for her to be someone important and someone that everyone respected. She was already respected, she already had a family of sorts that made her feel uneasy. She was just the unenhanced tag along, who needed to be protected who was just a pawn in everyone else's games and it bothered her to no end. At least Will Schuester was leaving her alone, because he had his own problems to worry about. Quinn had said that she shouldn't wait for anyone to hand her the gun, but she didn't even know where the gun was. She didn't know how to be special and stand out when she was surrounded by genetically enhanced people. She sighs and looks at Santana who has a guilty look on her face. She shouldn't take it out on her. "I asked you to help—when that monster was attacking. I practically shoved you out there myself so you could protect us. If anything Sue probably noticed you then and is just finally getting around to testing you out now and if that's the case I'm sorry Santana. I knew how much you hated fighting, and I know what you've gone through—a lot of what you had to do and even though I never saw you at you worst I don't want you to have to be that person again."

Santana was quiet for a moment, she wasn't quite sure if she could ever be that person again, killing for the sport of it. "I don't think you have to worry about that Rachel, I'm never going to be a soldier again and I'm never ever going to be—" There was a sharp knock on the door and Santana turns to it a slight frown on her face. "Did you manage to teach the twins to knock?"

Rachel groaned, she wished she had taught them how to knock, "I don't know how Brittany can put up with their brutish behavior at times. The nudity, the fact that they have no concept of other people's personal space. I'd say we should just get them back, but I think that will make it worse. Or it won't bother them nearly as much as it bothers us." She said watching as Santana moved to the door and opened it.

"Commander," Santana said confusion washing over her face, this was the most attention that Sue had paid her in a while and she swallowed. She could feel Sue studying her for a moment before she quickly stepped aside so she could enter. "The twins—"

"If I wanted to see Quinn and Charlie, then I would be there not here," Sue said briskly. Truthfully she had come to see the twins to find out _exactly_ what they were up against. She hadn't had the time to go through a debriefing with them not with everything that was going on. However they were missing yet again and she had to wonder if they had slipped out of the Citadel for a while. She had no idea _what_ they got into outside the walls and quite frankly she didn't want to know. They always came back, and that was all that mattered. She had only stopped here because she was in the neighborhood and it gave her time to deal with the Santana situation. Santana was keeping something from her and Santana hadn't yet earned the grace she gave to most of her soldiers. "You didn't learn to fight like that in the army," Sue stated bluntly cutting straight to the point. "I also was under the impression that you _couldn't_ fight and yet—here we are."

"I never said I couldn't. I said I _don't fight_ , and you never asked me about what I did after I fled you assumed that I joined up with Finn and his gang afterwards. You know what they say about making assumptions," Santana said before remembering _who_ she was talking to, she winced when Sue frowned at her.

Sue studied Santana for a moment her mind putting things together at an accelerated pace, "I've heard rumors that there was a place out _far_ past the walls of the Citadel, where certain games take place. It's a hotbed for illegal genetic modification—"

"Illegal according to your laws and the laws of most Citadels but outside the Citadel you and I both know that there _are_ no laws." Santana corrected and Sue frowned. It was survival of the fittest outside, there was no government, no hospitals, no police, and no firefighters. _Anything and everything goes._ "

Sue was quiet for a moment still studying Santana for a moment before smirking, it was nuanced but she was correct. Outside the walls were for the most part _lawless_. There might be more nomadic groups of people that roamed and small communities that weren't protected by walls but as a whole, they were lawless. "I'm going to assume that you learned to fight like that in those barbaric games?"

Santana shrugged and moved away from Sue, "Compared to my old Citadel, fighting in the pit was far less barbaric," Santana said dismissively. "I did what I had to do _survive_. Look I know I can fight but—"

"Well if that's what you want to call fighting," Sue said dismissively. "You know if you had the proper training you might actually be a credible threat and you could quite possible kick Charlie and Quinn's ass into shape." Sue said watching as Santana turned to her. "Yes, I'm aware that physically they are considerably stronger than you but the twins haven't taken anything seriously in years. I can't say I blame them, they haven't had any real competition in years."

Santana frowned at this, "You're kidding right? It's not just that they're stronger you know they're on a completely different level than I'm at. They're faster there is no way that I can beat them."

"Not with that attitude," Sue said dismissively. "Skill matters. Of course if you meet an opponent who is just as skilled as you are then those differences do _matter._ " She's quiet for a moment. "When you decide that you want to stop goofing around and surrounding yourself with mediocrity you know where my office is."

Rachel stiffened at this, "I am not _mediocre_ just because I am unenhanced," she snaps at Sue storming up to her causing Sue to look down at her.

"Of course you're not mediocre because you're unenhanced," Sue replied looking at Rachel. "You're mediocre because I don't quite know _what_ you're doing. You no longer _need_ my protection, and now that the games are over you've dropped off William's radar because he's got far more important things to do. You're not really an active member of his military, you certainly never went through his pitiful basic training. In fact the only reason you're in this nice apartment, and eating food that is designated for people who have jobs, is because of Santana who has proven herself to be a capable mechanic and a somewhat decent fighter. What have you done? Except milk the system?" Sue watches as Rachel flushes in anger at this. Anger was good, she needed to see more of that fire in her own troops.

She _knew_ she was mediocre she just didn't know what she was good at. "From day one you handed Santana a job, after _forcing her_ into your army. You _used_ her skills despite knowing that she is not the only mechanic in the Citadel, she's just the only one that had been genetically modified. I'm sure if another genetically modified soldier came looking for refuge you'd immediately find a use for them after forcing them to join your merry band of kidnappers."

"This sounds like an excuse as to why _you_ haven't found a job yet," Sue points out and Rachel flushes. "The fact of the matter is Santana wouldn't _find_ another job anywhere else. There was no other option for her. In case you haven't realized—people for the most part _hate us_. Sure they might be grateful now, but in a few weeks people will forget, and we'll be seen as menaces. So _yes_ , she got drafted immediately because every genetically modified person that enters this Citadel immediately falls under _my_ command."

"You don't think that I don't know what it's like to be hated? To see friends that you grew up with _turn on you_ , because you had the unfortunate luck of not being _gang-raped_ by a bunch of Neanderthals. I know what it's like to have your closest friends _turn on you_. I know what it's like to be forced to _obey_ someone who is stronger than me, and hate yourself doing it. You have _no idea_ what I needed to do to survive, and I'm terribly sorry if those skills that I learned don't exactly translate to a regular job like mechanic or soldier." Rachel snaps at Sue.

Sue studied Rachel for a moment, "If what you want is a _chance_ , then you're in luck. I do actually need an unenhanced person to show the council that I am willing to start looking into integration. Unfortunately finding set unenhanced person who is willing to break down these barriers has been difficult, not that I've put much effort into it."

"I'm not a soldier," Rachel says immediately. She wasn't even quite sure how that would work out. There was no way that she could ever be a soldier in Sue's army.

"I don't need you as a soldier. You're far too short and I'm sure you'll get underfoot," Sue says ignoring Rachel's outrage and the snort that comes from Santana. "What I need is a press officer, I need someone to manage the image of my army. To set up interviews with the press to basically pump out propaganda, to keep the citizen's firmly on our side."

Rachel blinked, well no wonder there wasn't a huge line up for the job, attempting to show the citizens of the Citadel that Sue's soldiers weren't _menaces._ Not with the rowdy nature of Combustion, them practically running around doing whatever it is they wanted whenever they wanted. With no consequences. "If you want me to _clean up_ the image of your army then I'm going to need your troops to _listen_ to me, especially when it comes to their off-duty hours. Especially at Combustion."

"Combustion remains open all that pent up energy needs to go somewhere, and I'd rather them blow it off in some dingy club, then elsewhere," Sue said with a wave of her hand. "I expect you in my office first thing, where we will discuss your new role and responsibilities in great detail."

Rachel's lips twisted into a grimace. "I appreciate the offer but I can't even get the twins to _knock_ let alone stop using our apartment as a one stop destination for shopping when they run out of supplies. Quinn enjoys walking around naked, and don't get me started on their appalling behavior when they're drunk. How am I supposed to handle and clean up the behavior of the rest of your army?"

Sue stares at Rachel blankly for a moment, before an amused smile flits across her face. "I didn't know that the twins knew how to make friends, I suppose I was wrong."

Rachel's jaw dropped. " _Make friends?_ They've been _terrorizing us for weeks_!"

"Hardly. If they were terrorizing you, you'd be dangling off the wall right now. You have no idea how many times people have called me to complain about that. This is them being friendly. Do enjoy it." Sue said flashing Rachel an amused smile despite her horror at the very idea. "Now if you'll excuse me I do have to go to a council meeting and listen to their _terrible_ ideas." With that Sue turned around and left the apartment, Rachel's jaw was still hanging.

* * *

Frannie frowned at the two menaces that were currently in her apartment sitting on her furniture eating her food. She didn't see why she _needed them_ , but Brittany insisted. They had raided her fridge, and drunk her rare wine like it was water. Her twin sisters were uncultured swine, and she didn't know why she put up with them. "I don't like you." She said bluntly causing three pairs of eyes to turn to her.

" _Frannie!_ You asked them here so you could ask for their help!" Brittany reminded her.

"Do you know how many times they've threatened me? Or dangled me off the roof this building? Frannie asked turning to Brittany who immediately turned back to the twins.

"Quinn? Charlie? Is this true?" Brittany asked even though she knew the answer.

"She made you upset! We weren't going to drop her," Quinn said defensively.

"I thought we were going to drop her?" Charlie asks Quinn who immediately elbows her. "Right! We weren't going to drop her."

Brittany frowns at the twins and reaches forward taking the plate of bacon from them. "Apologize," she snaps at them firmly.

Quinn narrows her eyes at Brittany, she could easily just take the plate from her and go back to eating. She didn't want to apologize Frannie had hurt Brittany. But then Brittany would be mad and they wouldn't get anymore good food. She glances at Charlie who is probably thinking the exact same thing and weighing their options carefully. "We're sorry for _threatening_ to drop you off your building and off the wall."

"We promise we won't threaten you again," Charlie says and holds her hand out for the plate of bacon.

Brittany narrows her eyes at them she knew exactly what they meant and she also knew that she wasn't going to get a better apology or promise out of them. She would add it to the list of things she needed to teach them. Though at this point she was considerably more concerned about keeping the knowledge of what she had stored away from the twins. She handed the plate back to the twins and looked at Frannie. "You need to tell them," she said. She was projecting in a terrible way but she was in a bad situation.

"Tell us what?" Charlie asked grabbing another piece of bacon and eating it.

Frannie frowned at Brittany's choice of words for a moment before looking at her sisters. She had a feeling that she was going to regret this decision, that it would come back to bite her in the ass in a major way but right now she needed to do something that Russell didn't see coming and this was it. "I need your help."

Quinn nearly dropped her bacon and looked at Frannie. "You want us to kill someone?"

Frannie blinked at this and looked at Brittany, "Just tell them what you want, their mind always goes their first," Brittany advised her patting Frannie on the arm gently.

This was the worst idea that she had personally ever had. Frannie sighed internally before looking at the twins. "No I need your help for my campaign. The Citadel loves you and I need to capitalize on that right now. I do—so I was wondering if you'd campaign with me. Just do some photographs and lie to the media about our relationship." The twins didn't look particularly thrilled at her request and Frannie shifted a bit. "I need your help beating our father—he threatened Brittany and I—"

"Okay," Quinn said and pushed the empty plate towards Brittany. "More bacon please."

"And chocolate! Can you make us those chocolate bacon cupcakes again Brittany? It's been forever since we had those," Charlie said pointing at the empty chocolate.

Brittany blinked at this, "You'll help Frannie?"

"Will there be a lot of those chocolate bacon cupcakes?" Quinn asks completely serious.

"If I say yes will you two be on your best behavior and act _like normal human beings_?" Frannie asked.

Charlie glanced at Quinn who made a face at this, but they hadn't had those cupcakes since their birthday, and she really did want them. "Yes?"

"Frannie that's as good as you're going to get," Brittany whispered to her knowing that the twins could hear her and Frannie groaned. Brittany patted her hand gently, "Do you want me to show you how to make them so you can make them yourselves?" Brittany smiled as the twins nodded, they were so easy to please and a part of her wondered if they would still be this eager if they knew what she had locked away in storage. "Now let's talk about Rachel and Santana," Brittany said cheerfully. "Rachel asked me to make her a lock that could keep the two of you out because you've been stealing her stuff." Brittany said getting up.

* * *

Rachel sighed as she stumbled out of the bathroom and knocked on Santana's door, "We've got to go in early today Santana remember? You said you'd show me around and take me to Sue's office and I don't want to be late on my first day!" She heard some cursing and she smiled a bit. She had no idea how Santana managed to get up and go places _every day_. It was tiring. She heads to the kitchen to get some breakfast when she stops and looks at the basket on the island that has a bow on it. She closes her eyes, because once again the twins have broken in. But this the first time they've ever left anything behind. "Santana! You'd better come see this," Rachel calls and heads to the basket cautiously. She blinks at basket that's filled with shampoo and other things that she assumed that the twins had stolen without their knowledge.

"What's that?" Santana asked as she appeared yawning and stumbling forward. Something smelled good and she was hungry.

"I think they're apologizing—but I think they missed the point that we don't want them _to break in_." Rachel said with a sigh. She paused at the tray of cupcakes—well what had been a tray of a dozen cupcakes with only two cupcakes left in the tray. There was crumbs all over her island and she imagined that they had gotten hungry and helped themselves to their apology gift. Rachel tips the tray a bit so Santana could get a look at what they had done. Rachel sighs loudly, "I don't even know what to say," she says in a tired tone.

"Be impressed that they at least left two?" Santana asks taking one of the cupcakes and biting into it. "These are actually pretty good! You don't think they made themselves do you?" Rachel gave her an annoyed look and Santana smiled. "Oh come on Rachel you heard Sue, they're just playing with us. We just need to get over it or ignore them."

"It'd be easier to ignore if Quinn wasn't naked all the time!" Rachel snapped and flushed when Santana gave her a curious look.


	10. Chapter 10

"Is it difficult to be the only unenhanced person in Commander Sylvester's branch of the army? Is this part of a trial to see if integration is indeed possible?

Rachel turned to the reporter who had just asked the question for the past two weeks she'd been getting questions like this, and while she did enjoy some of the attention when it was directly focused on her, she'd already answered the question about a hundred times. "I think my being here, proves that this is a very successful trial. The soldiers under Sue's command have treated me with respect and dignity." Rachel said her voice clear as she spoke to the gathered journalists. "The Commander wishes for a bit more transparency when it comes to her army so you can see that the genetically modified soldiers who you entrust to protect the Citadel aren't people to be feared or to hate, they are just like the citizens just slightly enhanced." Rachel smiled at the reporter. "Next question." Rachel scanned the room and smiled when she noticed someone in the back.

"Quinn and Charlie Fabray have recently been seen on the campaign trail with Frannie Fabray, can we take their involvement to mean that Sue is endorsing the Junior Council member?"

Rachel blinked for a moment that had probably been why she had two weeks of relative peace at home. It was probably the reason that Sue had been incensed lately. "The Commander prefers to leave the politics to the politicians—"

"Especially given the Junior Council Member's has gone on the record calling Sue and genetically modified people as a—" the man looks down and flips through his notes. "A blight on the rest of society, leeching up resources that are completely undeserved."

Rachel paused that did sound like Frannie from her brief interactions that she had with her. She winced, Frannie was probably doing quite a bit of backpedalling on that one. "Well I can't speak for the Junior Council member. I think if you have any questions about her policy and what she believes, you really should ask her. What I can say is that while the Commander doesn't endorse anyone publically, however she does allow her men to support whichever candidate they want. The twins are choosing to support their sister and that should be _applauded_. Family is important to the Commander, she views her men as family." Rachel smiled at this, "Now, I think that's all the questions we have time for today."

"What about the 149 that attacked the Citadel!"

"What's Sue doing to beef up security?"

"With the twins on the campaign trail are they ready to face another one?"

Rachel walked off the podium, all of these were questions that they could have asked much earlier, and they were choosing to do it now? As far as she knew Sue was dragging her soldiers through hell and back, while increasing patrols on the outside of the walls to look for clues. But from what she could see that was _all_ Sue was doing. She seemed rather blasé about the whole affair, though she was currently hosting secret meetings with her lieutenants, and from what she knew she was going out of her way to meet the twins on the campaign trail much to her annoyance. Rachel made her way through the base and decided to see if Santana wanted to join her for an early lunch. She wondered if the rest of Argon squad would be available.

Out of everyone they had been the most welcoming. Mikes quiet demeanor, Sam's silly impressions and Puck's poorly thought out attempts to seduce her. It had been a long time since she had a family and she felt safe around them. She walked to the garage only to hear Santana cursing out someone and throwing what looked to be a wrench at someone who ducked. Rachel blinked as she recognized it as the captain of the Sulfur squad, Jesse St. James. "Jesse?"

Jesse turned to look at the person who had called him and flashes a smile at Rachel, he's about to say something when he's forced to spin out of the way. "Will you calm down? It was an accident."

"An accident? I _just_ fixed the struts like four days ago. It was practically brand new. How the fuck do you damage the strut in four days unless you're hitting potholes at insane speeds. You know they're easy to avoid right?" Santana snapped at him and threw another wrench at his head.

Jesse stood up to his full height and sneered at Santana, "You know how shitty the roads are out there, you're lucky we didn't get into an accident. And maybe if you did a better job the strut wouldn't break."

Rachel stared at Jesse for a moment and immediately moved to stop Santana from attempting to murder him, "Santana! I'm sure it really was just an accident, there's no need to get violent!" Rachel said trying to sooth her.

Santana glared at him, "Well if it was an accident then he's just a _shitty_ driver. No other squad comes in here with even a quarter of the damage that Sulfur squad comes in with. So get a new fucking driver or—"

"Or you'll what?" Jesse says sticking his chin out. "What are you going to do? You're _just_ the _mechanic_. I don't give a rat's ass if the fucking Wonder Twins themselves recruited you, you're _just_ the mechanic. I'm out there busting my ass and risking my life while you tinker at the fucking cars. So watch your tone."

Santana gritted her teeth at him, Rachel was still very much in the way and she couldn't just keep throwing things at him. She wondered if she could get away with punching him. "Rachel get out of the way."

Rachel winced, since she'd been here she'd realized that fights broke out all the time and no one seemed to do anything until it started to get out of hand. "You're both professionals and you're _both_ your jobs are vital to the army. There's no need to start fighting."

"Rachel!" Santana snapped at her getting frustrated. She turned to the crowd that they were drawing. "You know I have to."

"I expect this behavior from the twins Santana, and they're out being perfectly reasonable beings right now," Rachel argued with her already feeling a very pulsing headache coming on. Rachel glanced at Puck who had come to hopefully see a fight break out. "You don't have to fight him."

Jesse watched as Santana seethed at this and turned to head back into the garage. "That's right, walk away _freak_."

Rachel froze and watched as Santana's back stiffened, she should have probably let Santana kick his ass, but she hadn't been thrilled with how Santana was starting to respond with violence when she was insulted. Finn and his idiotic cronies had called her all sorts of names and treated her horrendously but she rarely lifted a finger against them, but that was changing and she was worried about her. Rachel turned around about to rip Jesse a new one in defense of Santana when she gets pushed aside by Puck who slammed his fist into Jesse's face catching him off guard. "Will you shut the fuck up?" Puck said immediately moving to slam his foot into Jesse's side.

Sam sighed he had tried to hold onto Puck but he had just reacted. Mike wasn't going to get pleased that they had gotten into another fight so soon. Since the twins hadn't shown up to work people had been hassling them trying to take their position as Sue's go to team. He didn't even understand _why_ they were bothering the moment that the twins got back it'd be game over. He however met with someone shoving him from behind. He grimaced he still wasn't completely at a hundred percent and Sue had forced him on bed-rest. He turned to look at Giselle and he swore. "Rachel you're going to need to move," Sam ordered sharply. He couldn't take his eyes off Gisele for a moment she was far too skilled all of Sulfur squad was.

Rachel tried to scramble away and turned to Santana who was trying to avoid fighting all together as she was attacked, and she winced. This was an _absolute_ disaster, and she was incredibly grateful that there wasn't any camera's around as she tried to crawl away twisting away as the fighting grew closer to her. She winced when someone hauled her up forcefully and she closed her eyes tightly. She didn't want to get hit in the face.

"You aren't a soldier."

Rachel blinked recognizing the voice immediately as Quinn's and she let out a sigh of relief, this was the happiest that she had been to see Quinn in well forever. "I _know_ that I'm not a soldier, I'm Sue's newest public relations officer." Quinn shot her a funny look as she placed her down away from the brawling and beside Charlie who was sitting down at a distance and watching the brawl.

"I told you that we were missing all the fun," Charlie said to Quinn ignoring Rachel's existence. "We should have snuck away earlier. Being a politician is boring, you can't even threaten to kill people. And all the lying makes my head hurt."

Quinn sat down in-between Rachel and her twin and leaned back watching the brawl, "I think you should go rescue Santana. She's your responsibility."

Charlie watched as Santana's back crashed into the grill of the transport vehicle, but she was up after a moment and Charlie smiled pleased at this noting the small smile on her face. "She's having fun Quinn, so she _should_ continue to have fun."

Rachel frowned at this statement and turned back to Santana, "But that's _not her_. Santana doesn't fight when she's angry. Finn and his group called her all sorts of names and Santana never hit them or got into fights—"

"Because she would have killed them," Quinn interrupts and Rachel turns to her in shock. "She would have killed them," Quinn repeats. "That's why we're not allowed to get into fights with the unenhanced. Sue would be very angry at us."

"It's like playing with a screaming mini-human," Charlie adds and Quinn nods.

Rachel blinks, "A screaming mini—oh. You mean a baby?" Rachel asks and Quinn flashes her a smile and nods her head again. Rachel frowned that made sense, all it meant was that Santana could cut loose now. Though the fights that she was getting in needed to stop. There were times when she could barely recognize her under the scrapes and bruises that she came home with. "But still, I don't like it when Santana comes home hurt. She's not a soldier she just wants to be a mechanic, and that's what I want her to be as well. She likes working on cars—she told me she didn't like to fight but lately that's all she's been doing."

Quinn turned to Charlie who seemed rather uninterested in what Rachel was saying. She jabbed Charlie in the side causing her to tear her eyes away from the fight. "Go get her." Charlie frowned at this particular request and flicked her eyes to Rachel before she stood up and began to go walk towards the brawl. Quinn smiles at Rachel and pats her head.

Rachel swats at Quinn's hand which only seems to amuse her more and she decides to just ignore Quinn for now and focus on something else. "Where have you two been for the last two weeks? I mean I know you've been helping Frannie but Santana says you two haven't been to your apartment in days."

Quinn flicks her eyes to Rachel studying her before a smile crosses her face. "You were worried," she says simply.

Rachel rolls her eyes at this. "I wasn't worried, I got used to you two not breaking into our apartment and using _our_ stuff again. Or walking around naked, like you own the building."

Quinn is quiet for a moment and then smiles, "You know I can tell when you're lying." Quinn points out. She taps her ear. "I can hear your heart. I can tell other things as well."

Rachel frowned ever so slightly, "What other things," she's rewarded with a huge smile from Quinn that worries her for a moment and right before Quinn is about to inform her she hears Santana' cursing and kicking as Charlie carries her back to them.

"You know, you're still very much out of shape Santana, so you're only going to hurt yourself," Charlie lectured as she dumped Santana unceremoniously on the ground and then sat in between her and Quinn. "She was doing quite well Quinn, we should have let her fight some more."

Santana wiped the blood from her split lip and glared at Charlie. "I'm right here!" She was rewarded with Charlie patting her on the head and she slaps Charlie's hand away and moves to rejoin the brawl. Only to find herself landing on her ass hard again as Charlie yanks her feet from under her and then places a hand on her shoulder keeping her seated. Santana pulls a few time but she can't break away without possibly pulling her shoulder out and she frowns and settles down.

Rachel frowns at this and looks at Santana, "Santana—"

"Don't, I could have ended this before it became a brawl Rachel. He deserved it, he's been talking shit for days." Santana said, still furious and embarrassed that she had been called a freak.

"Do you want me to throw him off the wall for you?" Charlie asks.

"Yes," Santana said eying Charlie.

"No." Rachel said immediately. "There isn't going to be any murder."

Quinn looked at Charlie, "We'd get in trouble and you know he'll scream on his way down," she reminded her twin.

Charlie frowns a bit, "She's right we can't throw him off the wall Santana, but maybe we can throw him off the roof off the mess hall."

Rachel groaned loudly smacking her forehead as Quinn nodded at this compromise. She had no idea what to do with them. It was like they were forgetting that she was the public relations officer for Sue. No wonder Sue didn't let cameras on base. There was no way she could explain the twins dropping Jesse off the roof off the mess hall.

* * *

"We have that photoshoot in an hour Brittany and they took off again! Where the hell are they! You said they'd behave themselves," Frannie snapped at Brittany, it was just one of those days. She had a massive headache, sure her poll numbers were up but she was certain that she was getting grey hairs. Watching the twins carefully was a full time job, they certainly didn't have any political savvy and she had restricted what they could say.

Brittany sighed. Two weeks of Frannie complaining of an ulcer baking random treats for the twins, who would disappear at random times and were never around at nights when Frannie called or showed up to go over the days plan with them. "Frannie, I'm pretty sure they're just overwhelmed or they had to actually do some work. They do have jobs—I don't quite know what their jobs entail but they do have things to do."

Frannie let out a frustrated sigh, "Maybe I should just cancel it and have the reporters follow us to dinner instead. You know give the image that we're one big happy family."

Brittany grimaced, she had managed to put it off for as long as she could. She didn't want to be in the same room with Judy or Russell—but especially not Russell. "Frannie did you tell them that you were dragging them to do dinner with the family?"

Frannie sighed and shook her head, "No I did however take a page out of your book and promise them if them they behaved I'd take them to the best restaurant in the Citadel." Frannie was quiet for a moment. "You know that most genetically modified soldiers are banned from going to restaurants? Including them. Apparently no one wants what happens in Combustion to happen in their restaurant, I can't say that I blame them though. But they seemed surprised and asked if there was a catch. I told them no."

"Even though there was?" Brittany asked slowly and Frannie shrugged. "You know they can tell when people are lying right? They might not be able to spot the lie but they can tell when people are lying. Which is why they don't like spending time around politicians and coincidentally you. I don't outright lie to them," She just didn't tell them things that they needed to know. Two weeks and she hadn't gotten up the courage to simply tell them, though she suspected that they knew something was up. Personally Brittany believed that they thought she and Frannie were fighting again, and they were sort of. She wasn't a part of Frannie's publicity tour to grab voters. It had been Charlie and Quinn who had gotten to shake people's hands and talk to children.

Frannie froze at that, that would have been useful to know before they had gone off campaigning it could have saved her the hassle of trying to figure out who was on her side or who was against her. "Why didn't they tell me?"

Brittany sighed, "Frannie you think that they shouldn't exist—"

"They _shouldn't_ exists though. This isn't even up for debate, there is a one child policy that my parent's broke because they thought they were above the rules. They should have been just happy with me but instead—they insisted on having another child. My mother had many options available to her as do most of the women in this city. Of course there are exceptions to the rule, but I wasn't disabled—I wasn't useless as a child. I'm intelligent, I'm a _good_ daughter," Frannie interrupted, she was annoyed now.

"I don't see why you're displacing your anger on what your parents did on them," Brittany said after a moment, realizing she had stumbled upon one of Frannie's issues. "They didn't ask to be born, they certainly didn't ask to be turned into genetically modified soldiers. Let alone an experimental procedure which should have killed them. You have what many in this city don't have siblings, and I think if you really got to know them Frannie you might even grow to love them. They are exceptionally loyal—"

"Brittany let's not forget that you're currently running an experiment on them so that they can get girlfriends. I'm not going to feed them treats so they'll like me," Frannie said with an irritated sigh.

Brittany paused for a moment deflating a bit, "Do you think that's the only reason that they like me Frannie?" Brittany asked quietly. "Because I give them food? Like if I stopped do you think that they'd still want me around?"

Frannie paused for a moment and stopped what she was doing, she had heard something and she could already tell that there was something that Brittany wasn't telling her. She had defended the twins had called them her friends very soon after meeting them. Insisting that they would never hurt her. Truthfully she was a tad bit jealous of all the time that Brittany spent with them, especially with all the rumors she heard of them walking around naked. "Of course they're your friends—well as much as they can understand being friends with someone," Frannie said and waited for a moment. "Brittany what's this about?"

Brittany winced she didn't want to lie to Frannie but she needed to tell someone. Except if the twins decided to lash out and they found out that Frannie _knew_ , that everyone knew before them it would just be a terrible mess that she would have caused. Maybe if she just got rid of the sample then everything would be okay. But she didn't want to. She could think of a million reasons not to, all the good she could do with the blood. "It's a secret, and I want to tell you but I can't Frannie."

Frannie let out a disgruntled noise at the other end, "Is this one of those confidential things?" Frannie asks.

Brittany was quiet for a moment, "Yes it is, and I really do want your advice on how to handle it, but I really can't talk about it."

"Well, I suggest that you do what you think is best. So we're clear death rays are _bad_."

Brittany laughed at that, "I don't even know what a death ray is Frannie, I wouldn't even know how to make one though maybe—"

"Brittany!" Frannie interrupted. "Death Rays are bad."

Brittany rolled her eyes, "I was thinking of a different application to use it for, but you're right death rays are bad," she relaxes for a moment. "Tell the twins what's going on so they can prepare mentally, you know you don't even like it when your mother shows up uninvited. They haven't seen Judy or Russell in years so give them the heads up, and just say you'd appreciate them showing up. And when they ask for bacon in return, tell them we're going to try something else entirely."

"Alright, and Brittany. If it's really bothering you, then you know that maybe you shouldn't be doing it. If you're worried about it coming to light," Frannie said patiently.

"How did you—?"

"Brittany your IQ maybe _far_ greater than mine, but I'm hardly an idiot. I may not know _what_ it is you're hiding from them, but I know you're hiding something from them. As much as you love them, as much as you think they're never going to hurt you—shit happens. And they have accidentally killed people and things before." Frannie hears Brittany swallow on the other end and she closes her eyes. "So _please_ be careful."

* * *

Judy Fabray hummed as she adjusted Russell's tie, "I think you look quite handsome today, you know how much I love the red tie." Russell didn't say anything, she was used to this him ignoring her for things like this. "It's a good thing that Frannie and Brittany are both making time for us today, what with Frannie on the campaign trail. She has your acumen, using the twins when they're still hot to get votes."

Russell pulled away from his wife, "If Frannie had even an iota of my political acumen she wouldn't _need_ those mutants," he said fixing his suit. "She's been _rebelling_ , as of late thinking on her own, ignoring my advice and openly defying in the council. She needs to remember _who_ made her."

Judy sighs a bit at this, and rubs his arm gently. "All children rebel Russell. Except for Frannie, she's always done everything so you could notice her, maybe if you just sat down and had a talk with her she'll come right around. You've been so busy working on your project, and trying to stop that Sue from having the most power in the Citadel. Perhaps if she just sees what you're doing, if she sees and understands how hard you were working, then she'll come right back round. You didn't raise her to be a fool."

"No that was you." Russell said snapping at Judy. "All of this love nonsense that you filled her head with. It's that _girl_ that's ruining her. By now she should be married to someone who _matters_ , someone important to build a dynasty that I could use. Not be with the girl that makes candy and has this disgusting obsession with the freaks."

"Brittany is a _lovely_ girl, and she makes Frannie happy," Judy says with a sigh. "It's not like Frannie's married to her. Even you went and sowed your wild oats before you settled down. This is just a phase Russell and the more you tell her how much you're against it the more she'll hold on."

Russell smiles and takes Judy's hand squeezing it gently, "Perhaps you're right dear and a deft touch is all I need."

Judy smiled pleased that her words had reached him, "It's probably the best way to handle Frannie as well, and you're her _father_ Russell, she'll always come back, she'll always want to make you pleased. All you need to do is be patient and things will turn out fine."

Russell nods, there were days when he had wondered about Judy—she was nothing more than a teacher, a home economics teacher, it was one of the useless courses but it gave her a _use_ for society even if he didn't see what exactly it was. He stepped out of the car and immediately held his arm out for Judy, every now and again she'd surprise him with good advice, reminding him just how _useful_ she was to him. He immediately plastered on a huge smile and waved to the reporters. Leeches the lot of them, when he was finally in charge, when Figgins retired he'd start by silencing the press. He entered the restaurant with his wife and the smile immediately faded when he saw Frannie sitting at the table that he had reserved. Brittany was there which he expected but sitting across from them were his _other_ daughter's. The _freaks_. He's about to yell when he realizes that Frannie is smiling at him and that there are other people watching him. He was incapable of making a scene. He feels his wife stiffen beside him when she finally catches sight of the twins. "Did you know?" Russell murmurs to her.

"No, of course not—I—I—"

"Keep smiling then," Russell says as he pulls her to the table, even with a bit of resistance that he gets from her.

Quinn eyed Frannie looking up from the fancy menu, "We can order whatever we want right?"

Frannie smiled at Quinn, "Yes you can order whatever you want, and it's our father's treat after all." Frannie watched as Quinn's nose crinkled at this and she understood why her sister wasn't exactly thrilled.

Quinn turns to Charlie who was reading the menu, "You heard her Charlie we can order whatever we want and everything that we don't like we can give to Puck, Sam and Mike."

Brittany rolls her eyes and gently nudges Charlie's foot under the table causing her to look up at them. "You two should also pick something that you like to give to Rachel and Santana." Brittany offers ignoring Judy and Russell who have just approached the table.

Charlie crinkled her nose at this. "Why?"

Brittany sighed she had explained this a million times to Charlie and Quinn and yet they didn't seem to understand. "Because they're your neighbors and you want to be good neighbors so they don't move out?" Brittany suggested. She was met with blank looks from the twins and she sighed. She flicks her eyes to Russell for a moment, "We'll talk about this later."

"Father. Mother." Frannie said standing up in greeting, she turns to the twins who have gone back to talking over the menu. "I hope you don't mind that I invited the twins, they've been so helpful with the campaign lately. Doing everything they can to help me even given my stance on their army."

"You didn't give us much of a choice," Russell replied tersely, glancing at Judy who was still staring in awe at their greatest mistake. She hadn't seen them in years, since they'd been teenagers who were going outside the wall for the first time.

"Charlie, Quinn?" Judy said gently causing the two of them to look up and she reached across the table to touch Quinn's hand only for Quinn to withdraw it and move closer to Charlie immediately. Judy paused for a moment watching them. "How have you two been? I saw how you rescued the Citadel."

Charlie shifted closer to Quinn, before looking at Brittany, "Can we start with dessert first?"

"Of course you can," Russell said briskly. He smiled at the waiter, "Get the two heroes of the Citadel whatever they want, if they want the entire menu bring it to them. They do have quite have an appetite. You two deserve medals for how you handled that alien. Sue owes you two a lot." He pulled out a chair for Judy and took a seat at the head of the table. "You know you had your poor mother worried."

Charlie picks up the steak knife rotating it in her hand until it's in a comfortable position for her to attack, she feels Quinn place her hand on her wrist stopping her. Charlie turns to Quinn, they were lying. They had gotten rid of them, they had sent them to that place where they had hurt them. Quinn rubs Charlie's hand gently and waits until she puts the knife down. "We'll have two of everything." Charlie says turning to the waitress.

"I—are we allowed to do that? Your ration cards—" the waitress sputters, that would slow down the kitchen immensely.

Russell smiled at the waitress, "Whatever they want, they saved the Citadel."

"Is Sue not feeding you properly?" Judy asks this time reaching for Charlie's hand only for Charlie to pull away just like Quinn had done. They didn't understand. How could they? But they had to understand that they were a danger to everyone around them as children. She had wanted them, other parents took care of their genetically enhanced children she had tried. But they were far too dangerous to simply keep around. They could have hurt Frannie or another child. Did they not know that she had fought so hard with Russell to keep them? She had needed to make a choice and giving her _children_ back to the scientists who had made them into the monsters seemed like the best option. She had heard that they had tried to integrate them with the other genetically modified children at a later time to disastrous results.

"Sue doesn't feed us, we feed ourselves—Brittany helps and gives us bacon," Quinn says slowly and looks at Brittany. She didn't want to be here, not with them. She could hear their lies and she didn't even know what they were lying about and it bothered her.

"Bacon? Do you like bacon—well maybe I can come over and I can make a meal for you. Would you like that? Where do you live maybe I—"

Frannie gripped the table tightly, getting annoyed with how her parents were fawning over her sister's. She had brought them along to appease the cameras who wanted pictures of the Fabray family together at last, and throw Russell off enough so that she didn't have to spend an entire afternoon dealing with how belittling comments and the little digs at Brittany. But they were once again focusing all their attention on _them_. It infuriated her to some degree but the twins didn't seem to want the attention they were being uncharacteristically calm. She had expected threats, yelling drama. But none of this quiet. "They're grown adults mother, you don't need to pretend that you love them anymore. You did give them to scientists and allowed them to experiment on them for most of their life. It's no wonder they're so strange. They didn't grow up with the proper social interactions that the other mods did." Brittany's eyes widened at this and looked at Frannie like she had lost her mind.

Judy turned to Frannie immediately, " _Frannie_. You know that's not true!" She glanced at the twins who were studying Frannie curiously. "That's not true—you two were far too strong and too dangerous because you didn't know your own strength back then. That doesn't mean I never wanted you!"

Charlie tilted her head at Frannie for a moment and then slowly reached out despite Frannie giving her a look and patted her on the head. She still didn't like her, she was mean and she really didn't like them and she made Brittany upset all the time. But she wasn't lying to them anymore.

Quinn frowned at Judy and then Russell they were lying, or they thought that they were telling the truth. She was never quite sure which one it was and normally she would ask, but she didn't feel up to it. She just wanted to go home. Two weeks of very little sleep was finally catching up to them. "Frannie. Can we take our food to go?"

Frannie frowns at this, "Are you sure? You don't want to enjoy this _lovely_ family reunion?"

Charlie frowned and leaned in and whispered to Quinn. "Is she being sarcastic?"

Quinn eyes Frannie who rolls her eyes and then looks at Brittany who nods, "I think she is. Because this isn't fun."

Charlie frowns at this, "This isn't fun. So we're going to go home. Can you place our food in those white containers?" Charlie asks the waitress loudly.

Judy frowns at this and immediately gets up, "Don't be ridiculous we're a family and maybe it's high time we start acting like it."

Quinn frowns at this, "Maybe when you stop lying to us," Quinn says and gets up and smiles at Brittany. "Do you want to come with us?"

Brittany immediately turns to look at Frannie who sighs and nods. "Yes, come on Frannie let's go."

* * *

Rachel frowned as she watched Santana getting ready to head out once again to Combustion, at least that's where she thought she was heading off to. She'd come back battered and bruised and it worried her, but worrying over Santana hadn't exactly gone _well_. So she had gotten used to it, "Do you know when you'll be back?"

Santana flicked her eyes at Rachel and paused from where she was putting on her jacket, "I haven't changed Rachel. I still only want to be a mechanic. But I am part of an army, one that for the most part doesn't treat me like shit. And right now—I'm not going to pass the physical fitness portion of the exam. Which means that I'm not going to be able to leave the Citadel. Not to mention the other various tests that I have to pass, I don't want to get in anyone's way and I am not a damsel in distress."

It was the first time that she was hearing about Santana's plans to get past these walls and Rachel paused and studied Santana for a good long moment, "I thought you wanted to stay in the Citadel?"

"I do—but I'd like to be part of some salvage missions, when I make requests for parts, sometimes they get me the wrong ones because they really have no idea what I'm looking for. It'd make my job easier if _actually_ got the right things for once. I want to stay here and I want to make a life here Rachel, but part of my job means that I need to go out and get the right parts. At least so the citadel can start making the correct parts. The vehicles are breaking down quicker because the parts I use don't fit correctly."

It certainly made some sense but that didn't necessarily meant that Rachel approved of the action. "Is that the only reason you want to get out of the Citadel? You're not looking for an escape plan are you? Because if you are we should work on an exit strategy together."

"There is no exit strategy Rachel, I like living here. I like having food, healthcare, working on cars, we have _friends_ here. I mean yeah there are some shitty ass people who need to choke on a dick. But over all this isn't a bad place to be and you _like_ your job." Santana points out. "I like my job."

Rachel was quiet for a moment, "I do like my new job, but you have to admit that there is something going on behind the scenes, I don't know what it was but there was an attack of sorts and no one knows where it came from, no one seems to be doing anything about it. Everyone is just going back to their daily business. I think we need a plan if everything goes to hell again."

Santana tilted her head at this, "Well I need to get back in shape, and so whatever we decide will pretty much have to wait—" There was a pounding on the door and Santana stopped what she was saying and immediately moved to open the door where the twins were carrying multiple bags of food with them. "Charlie—Quinn?" Santana asked looking at the two of them.

Quinn pushed her way past Santana and smiled at Rachel, "We went to a fancy restaurant and we got two of everything on the menu." Quinn started to put things on the island. "It's too much for us to eat though." This was a lie, Brittany had just been very upset that they didn't plan on sharing their food. They never shared food unless it was something they didn't want to eat.

Charlie nodded. "The ones that don't taste good we'll just give to Puck and Mike and Sam. Brittany says its good to show how much we care and—" Charlie looks to Quinn trying to remember the word Brittany used.

"Appreciate," Quinn supplied for Charlie as she opened one of the bags and took out some sort of cake. She paused for a second with it inches from her lips and looked at Rachel and offered it to her.

"Eating utensil's Quinn. I've seen you use them before," Rachel said with a shake of her head moving to get a fork for the two of them.

Charlie nods and looks at Santana frowning a bit when she notices that Santana is dressed to go out. "Where are you going?"

"You're the one that's been insisting that I need to get back in shape, so that's what I'm going to do—I need to pass the fitness test," she was met with a blank stare. "Sue's increasing standards and that's what everyone is busting their ass for lately."

Charlie eyes Santana for a moment and moves inside the apartment and studies her. "Food first then I'll train you, but you have to promise to fight me once I'm done."

"I do know how to get in shape and—" Santana pauses when she hears Quinn snort at this. "I was a soldier once before, and I did _my share_ of fighting."

"A lot of people fail the test the first time, that's how Sue gets the rankings and sees who is combat ready and who isn't," Charlie explains slowly to Santana. "I promise I won't drop you off a building. Puck got really angry when I did it with him. But he's passed all his fitness tests the first time since then." Charlie said. "Food because Quinn will eat it all if we don't start now."

Santana hesitates for a moment, "No throwing me off buildings or breaking any bones or—whatever it is you do that will leave me hurt?" Charlie smiles at her and Santana can't shake the feeling of unease at that smile. "Alright but we get to fight when _I'm_ ready, not when you say I'm ready."

"Fine," Charlie says dismissively and hands Santana a bag out of the nine she's currently holding. "This is for you. The rest are for me."

"Charlie, Brittany said you had to share your dessert." Quinn reminded her. She had cut her piece of cake so she got the bigger piece, but she was sharing like Brittany said.

"But she'll eat it all." Charlie complains.

"You're the one with nine bags filled with food and you're saying that _I'm_ going to eat it all?" Santana snaps at her and reaches to take another bag from Charlie who immediately twists away.


	11. Chapter 11

William Schuester was not having a good day, or a good month for that matter. His jaw which had healed somewhat from Quinn's _senseless_ attack was now making this irritating clicking noise every time that he ate. Getting his teeth fixed was another matter entirely, he was sure that dentist had screwed up, his mouth felt odd. Like it didn't fit properly, which was probably the reason for the clicking to begin with. He didn't even want to think about all the council hearings that he had been forced to attend as of late. They were trying desperately to strip him of his position.

Russell had rallied around him getting the votes, but Russell hadn't spoken a word to him personally in _weeks._ Any attempt to meet with him privately was rebuffed by his secretaries. There was no fancy scotch, no more clandestine meetings where they talked about their plans. He understood, Russell was a politician and he needed some distance, and he was working hard to keep him in power. But he couldn't show favoritism but it still bothered him.

"Will?" William glanced up at Emma and smiled at her and his son who was in her arms. "You have a visitor. It's _Mr._ Fabray." Emma watched as Will stood up immediately and smiled. "I told you that you just needed to be patient that he'll reach out once the fallout had started to be cleared up."

The fallout hadn't even begun to be cleared up, with Sue doing a full court press and swinging the public onto her side while taking _his spy_ and turning her into a public relations officer. People actually _liked_ those monster's thought that they were—needed. The council was bending over backwards giving Sue whatever she needed. New equipment including swords for those who showed the appropriate skill level with it. New combat knives were being designed as well as new anti-149 weapons. Sue was set to unveil a new emergency system soon so that they'd be better equipped to handle moving citizens to emergency bunkers. Will smiled at Emma, "I'll see him here, thanks Emma." He said with a smile, dismissing her. Will straightened himself up for and stood up when Russell entered the room. He shrank back at the look of rage that was on Russell's face. "Russell—"

"You are perhaps the most incompetent _buffoon_ that I have ever had the misfortune of _working with_ ," Russell hisses reaching across Will's desk and grabs him by the front of the shirt yanking him closer. "Do you know how hard I've been working cleaning up the mess _you_ made? I thought you said that they were getting closer to being ready that we were finally getting control over them and you let one _escape_. I thought you said that you _had it under control!_ "

"We do—" Will began readying his excuses.

" _Hundreds_ of people died, do you know how difficult it will be to convince the citizens that this is what we need now? How much spin, how much politic maneuvering fthat it will take to convince them that this is the future. That is if it doesn't _sink_ my career to know that I played a role in that _monster_." Russell snaps interrupting him. He had bet on the wrong horse but Sue couldn't be bought and he had something in common with William they weren't _freaks_. "There is _talk_ —of reopening the genetically modified program and creating _more_ of those freaks. Of restarting _project Gemini_." Russell lets Will go, shoving him backwards and into his chair.

"This _wasn't_ my fault," Will says defensively. He wasn't going to take the blame for what happened in the Citadel. "It was Sue's. It was _her_ soldiers that caused the accident that allowed it to escape. They attacked the transport van."

"I don't see how that is _helpful_. Trying to shift the blame onto Sue only proves her point that _you_ have been doing some rather _illegal_ experiments William." Russell said inhaling sharply and then exhaling. He needed to be calm, he needed to think this through, to focus on the task at hand. They needed to push through but there was something that was bothering him. "There is the small matter of the fact that I was promised that they would be _far_ stronger than the twins and yet the drone was crushed, both literally and figuratively by the twins."

"The test subject had been rejecting the genetic changes we made, from what I understand, the 149 DNA was attacking the human DNA and trying to take it over and _rewire_ it, sort of like a parasite of sorts. It's a shame that our scientists couldn't do an autopsy before Sue had the body burned. Every failure is a good thing, it means we know what to do. We had our best scientists working on a way to stabilize him when this incident happened."

"You may have had your _best_ scientists but they are not the _Citadel's_ best and brightest. We need to expedite this process." Russell said. "Unfortunately the _Pierce_ girl is far too close to Sue by way of the twins and she shows an irritating _loyalty_ to them." Russell taps the table, "But there are others. I don't care what you need to promise them William. I don't care if you need to resort to _blackmail_. Just make sure that we have the best scientists working on it. I need to focus on finding a way to cut Sue's power. The council has been extremely _fickle_ lately as have the people. We need a _scandal_ that will turn the people against Sue. But with her new policy of openness and her new public relations officer things will be a bit more difficult."

"I know, which is why I've managed to narrow down the list of possible Citadels to places in the south. The other major Citadels haven't reported any modified soldiers as AWOL. We don't have contact with the smaller inconsequential Citadel's but that's what we may be looking for. So we've sent out some feelers."

It was a dangerous game and one that would be done publically. But he was sure that he could swing the public onto his side. War wasn't something that they wanted, it was a waste of resources especially not over some soldier who had gone AWOL before. "Very well, the faster we find that Citadel the better." Russell said dismissively. Bringing Project Alpha-Delta-Iota into the public would be much more difficult.

* * *

Quinn watched the black silhouette move quickly and efficiently towards the dilapidated building. Her sister was avoiding the lit up areas around the building moving to a dark area and quickly scaling the wall. Quinn frowned ever so slightly when she heard the sound of metal scraping against brick, Charlie using the metal pole as a way to propel herself upward and she brought her hand to her ear. " _Quiet Charlie_. Remember! Sue doesn't want anyone knowing we're here this is _reconnaissance_ remember?"

" _I remember._ No killing, no being seen no getting caught. We're just looking for evidence that Will's doing illegal modifications," Charlie's voice came through. "Reconnaissance is _boring_ , why can't we just kill everyone and then look for the information we need and take our time?" Charlie asked. She was getting irritated, she couldn't remember the last time that they had any sleep or done anything _fun_. Frannie didn't want them fighting in public or getting naked in public, or having sex in public. Sue wanted them to do things quietly even though they were better suited for killing everyone. It wasn't _fair_.

"There isn't anyone on the roof so you're clear—just be quiet." Quinn says, they were taking turns because it was super boring to do reconnaissance work she had taken the last place and now it was Charlie's turn. "Do you smell anything?"

Charlie frowned ever so slightly at this question, inhaling deeply as she moved to the rooftop entrance and placed her ear against it to make sure there was no guards on the other side. "Smells like, rusty metal and rot—but I think I smell that stuff they use to make the hospital clean."

Quinn sat up in the car that they had acquired and frowned, "Do you want me to join you?" she asks. They might have found something and then Sue could finally leave them alone. It felt like she was punishing them for something there were other squads that were better suited to this kind of work. Yet as far as she knew Sue hadn't _told_ anyone yet, she was keeping everything quiet, finding some of Will's military black sites that were off the grid and sending them there to check to see if Will was doing anything _illicit_.

Charlie checked the door only to find it locked and she grumbled mostly to herself. "Yeah, let's do this together, it's the last one on the list right? The quicker we finish the faster we can go home and get some sleep," she muttered. "Bring the kit with you, we can't just walk in like we did with all the other places."

Quinn grabbed the infiltration kit and sighed as she began to move following Charlie's path to the building. She swung the backpack onto her shoulders as she began to scale the building, avoiding the metal bar that Charlie had used to propel herself upward. Her hands gripped the edge of the building and she felt Charlie's hand grab her arm and pull her upwards. She grunted a bit as her knees hit the roof and allowed Charlie to help her up. She inhaled sharply, and frowned she could smell it to. The smell of sterility, but it couldn't hide the smell of rot and death. "Come on, it took longer to get here than we thought it would." It was going to be sunrise soon and they couldn't afford to be late, Sue would start yelling at them again.

Charlie opened the bag and moved to break into the warehouse working with the lock picks to quickly get the door open. She heard the click and slid the tools away before opening the door for her twin. "After you," she says and she's met with Quinn giving her a look. Charlie smiles at her sister who finally shakes her head and grabs the lock pick and begins to walk down the stairwell. Charlie looks around quickly before closing the door.

Quinn immediately covered her nose, it was way worse once they were inside and they should have brought something to filter the smell out, because rot wasn't quite the word for it. It was ghastly and she needed to stop herself from retching. Unlike their hearing they couldn't just _switch_ it off their sense of smell and she covers her nose. "What is that?"

Charlie felt her stomach turn and the splash of acid at the back of her throat but she managed to swallow it down, that was the last time she went on a reconnaissance mission on a slightly full stomach. "Don't know, but let's get in and get out. Or we're going to be smelling this for days," Charlie says coughing. If there was one thing she wished hadn't been enhanced like everything else, it was her nose. How could the regular people stand this?

Quinn nods and pulls her shirt up over her nose and motions for Charlie to do the same. It doesn't really dull the smell of rancid flesh, but it's enough to keep her eyes from watering as they quietly begin to move through the warehouse. For a place that looks like it's falling apart on the outside, on the inside it is actually relatively modern with the clean floors, and windows. It looks and feels like the lab that they had grown up in. Which gives them the advantage because when they were being subjected to the scientists poking and prodding and cutting into them, just to see how they ticked, they had explored every nook and cranny of the lab. Quinn flicks her eyes to Charlie and gently nudges her causing her to look at her. They weren't small anymore, and no one was going to use them as lab rats ever again. Charlie nods, she's okay which is good. They're about to move forward together when she tilts her head. Footsteps approaching, still at a distance but it's time to move. She glances at Charlie again and holds up two fingers. She only hears two of them and Charlie nods agreeing with her assessment. She glances around and points at what appears to be an empty office and she points at it to Charlie.

Charlie follows Quinn's gaze and nods, unfortunately with the smell of rot filling their senses it would be impossible to start distinguishing the smell of people, but she follows Quinn into the room and closes the door behind her, "Is this what we're looking for?" she murmurs quietly so only Quinn can hear her.

"I don't know—but this place is different than the others. There weren't nearly this many guards before, and they didn't smell this bad. Maybe we should see if there are files that we can take and show Sue." Quinn suggests waiting until she hears the sound of footsteps pass them and moves deeper into the office. She scans the files that are stacked neatly on the desk and flips through them. Its science stuff that she doesn't care to understand and she puts it back down. She pauses and looks at Charlie who has moved to the computer and has plugged in a pen drive that would automatically copy all the files on the computer. A nifty little tool from Brittany.

"How are we supposed to know what's important?" Charlie asks Quinn looking at the desk and opening a confidential file.

"I don't know. But you remember that the really important documents that the scientists had the words confidential on it," Quinn says flipping through the files. "Next time we should bring Brittany for the science stuff."

"Twenty percent," Charlie says and flicks her eyes across the room scanning it and quickly flipping through files. "We couldn't bring Brittany with us, it'd be too dangerous."

"It wouldn't be dangerous for Brittany but I don't think she'd like to see us working. I don't think she'd like to be around dead bodies all the time." Quinn pulled a file out from the bottom of the pile and frowned at the title, _Project: Gemini_. "Charlie," Quinn said holding the file up so Charlie could see. "They shut that down, Sue _promised_ that they shut it down." Quinn said angrily, her body vibrating with anger.

Charlie shivered and closed her eyes trying to calm herself. "Show it to Sue—she's never lied to us before. If she's behind this we'll kill her."

Quinn nods, Charlie was right. Sue _hadn't_ lied to them ever, and they could tell and this was one of Will's black sites. As far as she knew Sue didn't even have any top secret military bases outside of the wall. Quinn puts the file into her bag her hands still vibrating in anger. "How much longer?"

Charlie flicks her eyes down to the computer, "Eighty-three percent," Charlie says as she starts rooting through the files on the desk again. She goes through them slowly, looking for something that seems important but nothing sticks out at her. She flips to the last file in the stack and frowns. _Project: Alpha-Delta-Iota_. It sounds important but there isn't a giant confidentiality sign on it. She's about to open it when the USB beeps and she turns to look at it. "Done. Quinn let's get out of here."

Quinn nods and pulls away from the files, "Lets. We'll deliver this to Sue and then tonight we'll come back and burn this place to the ground."

Charlie yanks out the USB and glances at the file once more, before deciding to leave it. She wanted to get home and get some sleep after all.

* * *

Santana frowned, she had been waiting for Charlie for what felt like thirty minutes knocking at the door and cursing out both twins for ignoring her. She knew that Charlie could hear her, as could Quinn and she was tempted to break into their apartment like they had many times done to her. She put her hand on the door and was about to push it open when the elevator dinged and she turned to look at Charlie and Quinn who were wearing their stealth uniforms. Santana frowned and tilted her head at the two of them. "Where the hell have you two been?" Crinkling her nose at them, they smelled _awful_.

Quinn shifted and looked at Santana who was blocking their doorway and frowned slightly and picked her up and moved her out of the way. Charlie perked up at Santana shooting Quinn a murderous look for that, "Why? Do you want to fight?" Charlie asks. She yawns after she says this and then looks at Santana again. "Never mind Santana, I'm too tired and I smell bad."

"I call the shower first," Quinn says as she opens the door to their apartment. She shoves Charlie aside as she tries to run past her.

"But I _smell!_ " Charlie says whining to Quinn who ignored her and made a bee-line to her bathroom. Charlie grumbled and began to pull off her uniform in the hallway in front of Santana, and kicked it down the hallway with her foot. She immediately began to make her way across the hall when Santana move to block her. "Santana _not_ today!"

"You said you'd _train me_ , you promised. You can't just go back on a promise. I got up early and the fitness test is coming up fast and you _promised_ that I'd pass first time. I've been waiting here for _thirty fucking minutes_ for you to do whatever it is you planned and I don't really care how tired you are. If you make a promise you fucking keep it." Santana snapped at Charlie.

"Santana—I'm _naked_. Frannie said that I'm not allowed to be naked in public anymore _._ I smell bad and I'm really _tired_ and you're being mean." Charlie says. "I just want to shower—and sleep."

Charlie was right about one thing, she did smell rather ripe and she was going to have to compromise. " _Fine_ , you can use our shower but only if right after you do what you _promised_ and train me. I'll go get you a change of clothes and I'll meet you here in ten minutes and we'll start." With that Santana stepped aside and moved to go grab some of Charlie's clothes, she stops and pats Charlie on the head causing Charlie to turn to glare at her. "Ten minutes Charlie."

Charlie made a face at this, that was the last time she was going to be nice to Santana. She was mean, and she didn't like her anymore. But she'd probably tell Brittany and then she wouldn't get anymore bacon. She shouldn't have promised not to dangle her off the roof of a building. She mentally grumbled as she went to go take a shower.

Rachel who was drinking her coffee stopped as she watched Charlie storm past the kitchen, completely in the nude and headed straight to their bathroom. She slowly put down her mug and closed her eyes. She had gotten so used to not seeing anyone naked that she had thought those nudity days were behind them. She'd just like to go a month without someone walking through her apartment naked like they owned the place. What was wrong with clothes? She liked clothes. "Santana they're _doing it again_."

* * *

Sue flipped through another proposal by Figgins, who was still going on about integration. She had taken a look at William's troops, the first thing that they needed to do was cut the fat. She'd say trim the fat but there was far too much excess in William's army. People who weren't trained properly. She had immediately countered with a new fitness program that William had immediately shot down, saying his men were not super soldiers. She hadn't given him anything impossible. She hadn't even suggested that his men go through her obstacle course from hell, which was basically a playground for the twins. It had been military standards from before the 149. At the very least he could go back to that but Will was fighting her tooth and nail. She refused to even begin considering the idea of integration until this happened. She wondered if she could make a point with Rachel. She was incredibly small and tiny, and it would be embarrassing if she could do most of the things that Will's army couldn't do. She'd have to find someone willing to do it.

" _She's busy_ you two can't just _storm in there!_ "

Sue looked up just in time to see Quinn and Charlie storming into her office, looking enraged and Sue groaned inwardly it was going to be one of _those_ days. "Did Combustion cut you two off again?" Sue said dismissively only to have Quinn throw a folder on her desk that caused Sue to stop and frown. _Project: Gemini_. Sue glanced up at the twins. "Where did you find this?"

Quinn leaned over and grabbed Sue, not caring if she was her commanding officer, not caring that Sue had basically taken care of them and had been the only one to constantly visit every single week while they were lab rats. Who had taught them how to fight, how to track, how to hunt, how to be not scared anymore. Sue had _promised_ that it was over. "You _lied_ to us. You told us that you made sure it was shut down—you _promised_ that you made that they shut it down. That they got rid of all our DNA and they weren't trying to do what they did to us."

Sue studied Quinn calmly and flicked her eyes over to Charlie who simply looked really tired, and put her hand on Quinn's wrist. It was a dangerous, the twins when angry and annoyed were dangerous, and they had a lot to be angry about. "I didn't lie to you. Project Gemini _was_ shut down. I made it happen." Sue said telling the truth. Quinn still didn't let go. "I _keep_ my promises, I have always kept my promises to you. I thought what they were doing was barbaric, I still think what they did is _exceptionally_ barbaric." She felt Quinn tighten her grip. "Charlie, am I lying?"

Charlie studied Sue for a moment before reaching and touching Quinn's shoulder. "Quinn—Sue's never lied to us. You know she's not lying now."

Quinn moved and dropped the USB onto Sue's desk. "Then we go and kill Will and we _destroy_ that base," she said simply. The things that they had subjected them to, Quinn inhaled sharply. "Come on Charlie let's go kill Will."

"Can we drop him from the wall? I want to hear him go splat." Charlie asks her twin.

Sue adjusted her collar, "No one is killing _anyone_ without my say so. We don't _know_ anything yet, and I need more information before I can make a move. The one thing I do know is that Will isn't _smart_ enough to put this through let alone hide it from me. He also thinks you two are unhinged, so I doubt that he's trying to clone you." Sue said calmly. "So you two aren't going to _kill_ anyone not until I give you permission."

Quinn bristled at this, "We _know_ he's behind the monster. We know he's conducting illegal experiments killing him—"

"If you want to kill a snake, the easiest way is cutting its head off. I taught you this. Will isn't _that smart_ , which means even if we get rid of him that doesn't mean that this problem goes away," Sue said. "We need evidence. A lot more evidence, I want to be able to go to the Council with this. We do have proper channels. If that fails, then we'll see if it's a splat noise or the sound of bones being crushed." This brought a smile to Charlie's face but it didn't seem to assuage Quinn. "I know you want to kill him and burn that place to the ground, but we can't move now. We can't let our enemies know that we're on to them. We don't want them going deeper underground than they already have so the best thing to do is _patience_. After that if you want to burn all those secret military bases to the ground, I will help you pour gasoline and hand you the lighter."

"Promise?" Quinn demanded.

"I _promise_." Sue said firmly. This finally seemed to calm Quinn down enough for Sue to reach over and smack her hard upside the head. Quinn glared at her and rubbed her head, "I have _told_ you a million times, I don't care how _angry_ you are. You never raise your hands against your commanding officer." She flicked her eyes at Charlie who immediately backpedaled out of her reach. "Apart from what I imagine is the stench, did you two manage to bring anything else back or see or smell anything."

"It smelled too bad for us to start—picking up different smells," Charlie said as she rubbed Quinn's head where Sue had smacked. "We were in and out like you said we should be. We didn't find any documents labeled confidential and we didn't really know what was important. But we made a copy of the computer. But—from the smell alone they are most definitely doing _something_."

Sue was quiet for a moment, reconnaissance was not the twin's strength by any stretch of the imagination and it was _highly_ likely that they had missed something. "I'm going to send a reconnaissance team out and they'll start taking notes of the comings and goings." Sue said dismissively opening the Project Gemini file on her desk. This part of the conversation was over but she waited until they were halfway out the door before she called out. She did need to discipline Quinn for lashing out. "Quinn, it's come to my attention that as a member of this army Rachel does need to go through some basic training. Fitness, she needs to be certified to use a gun you know _basic_ training, perhaps even a bit of self-defense. That is now your responsibility."

Charlie paused and looked at Quinn who blinked at this new information. She snorted and then began to laugh at Quinn's misfortune. She was promptly shoved by Quinn. "Rachel is _weak_ , she can't do the stuff that we do. That's _impossible_."

"I'm not asking her to pass an enhanced test physical fitness test, I'm asking her to pass some basic training criteria that I want to prove is necessary for the unenhanced army. I'm trying to prove a point, however if you can train her to the point where she can at least complete the unenhanced fitness test, then I'll give you two weeks off and let you leave the Citadel to do whatever you want. " Sue said flipping through the report.

"What about me?" Charlie asks immediately after she had stopped laughing. "I want to leave the Citadel to and have a vacation."

Sue flicked her eyes at Charlie, "You want a vacation to? Fine if you can get a member of your unit or at this point any other soldier to pass your personal fitness test then you can join Quinn on vacation."

Quinn turns to Charlie, "Argon squad," Quinn said helping Charlie out. "Just force them to get in shape. I'll help you dangle them off the roof until they agree."

Charlie nodded, "I'll find Puck and Sam, you find Mike and I'll meet you on top of the mess hall? We should probably find someone else to drop off the roof so they know we're serious." Charlie said and Quinn nodded at this well thought out plan.

Sue didn't even bother to stop them. She probably should lecture them about actually dropping people off roofs, but they hadn't seriously hurt anyone. More or less in years. She'd like to assume they knew what they were doing. She instead was focusing on pouring over the documents that they had given her. When the 149 were actually a threat and their ships still stayed in their skies, stealing their resources and kidnapping and murdering their people to use as cattle and quite possibly food. The first iteration of the super soldier program involved taking DNA from the 149 and splicing it into humans. That had been a grave mistake, 149 DNA was nearly impossible to fully integrate. They had become _monsters_ , the first monsters, she had heard stories of those times. They lost their minds, they were little nothing more than mindless angry beasts. Instead of exterminating them like they should have it was thought that using them as weapons of mass destruction. It had worked, they were really good at exterminating 149, and they were also very good at exterminating everything else in its path, including humans. The program was scrapped but they didn't do anything about the monsters that they had created. William couldn't be stupid enough to reopen the program, using the twins DNA as a template of sorts to fix the problems they ran into in the past.

She was going to need to move soon and fast to shut this down but she needed to know exactly what was going on. Sue picked up the drive, she'd have to find someone who knew the science behind it all. But until then she'd have to bring Zizes into the fold. The more people that knew about it the greater the chance of a leak would be. But what choice did she have. Even though she wished for her old glory days, peace was a _good_ thing. There was a knock on her door and Sue looked up at Rachel. "Just the person I needed to talk to," Sue said closing the file.

"You need to put an end to the _nudity_ problem," Rachel said immediately.

"Did my soldiers have another orgy again?" Sue said with a sigh. "I told them to keep it inside Combustion."

"No! And they shouldn't keep it in Combustion at all, it's an establishment that severs food, and that is incredibly unhygienic. The twins seem to think that it's perfectly okay to walk around naked all the time and remove their uniforms whenever they want. I need them to stop." Rachel said and she was met with a dry look from Sue.

"Oh dear, attractive people are walking around naked giving you a free show and you're complaining," Sue says dryly and watches as Rachel flushes. "I didn't need to see you so you could complain about the twins, I'm sure they had a perfectly good reason for walking around naked in front of you. I do however care that you haven't passed a fitness test, or any basic training. This has to change, so I've assigned you a personal trainer. You will do this on your spare time, and you'll take your test whenever your personal trainer says that you're ready." Sue held up her hand, "You are not going to be doing the enhanced test so don't worry but if you can complete the unenhanced test, without any time restraints you'll pass automatically. Don't worry I created a special test just for you. But you do need to learn some self-defense and being able to rescue yourself is always a good thing."

Rachel was quiet for a moment, this probably had something to do with the unenhanced integration and learning how to defend herself might come in handy. "That sounds perfectly reasonable, who will be my personal trainer?"

"Quinn." Sue said bluntly ignoring the fact that Rachel had gone pale and her jaw had dropped. "I'm sure she'll be gentle."


	12. Chapter 12

Quinn tapped her foot as she stood beside Rachel who was staring at the forty-foot wall that she needed to climb. Rachel had managed to slowly but surely make her way through the entire course with a bit of prodding. But she had stopped in front of the wall and hadn't made a move to start scaling it. "Rachel—I'm hungry and Charlie's going to eat all the bacon that Brittany brings over if you don't hurry."

Rachel turned to look at Quinn, "You're joking right?" She points to the top of the wall. "You want me to climb _that_."

Quinn turns to the wall confused and then looks back at Rachel. They had been standing here for a while, did Rachel not understand what she had to do. "Yes."

Rachel grimaced as she turned to look back at the gargantuan structure. Quinn hadn't been as horrible as she thought she'd be. But even she had to see that this was impossible, she didn't even understand how Quinn could look at it and not be afraid of scaling it. What if she fell, she'd die a horrible dramatic death. "It's _huge_."

Quinn patted Rachel on the head to comfort her. "It's because you're really small. It'd be less scary if you were normal sized."

She took it back, Quinn was horrible at this. "I could _fall_. In case you haven't noticed if I fell from that height, I'd _die_. I'm not modified, I can't _bounce_ back after falling down from that height with a few bruises."

"You probably would die if you fell from that height," Quinn said looking up and frowning slightly but nodding at Rachel's assessment. She smiled, the solution was simple. "So don't fall."

Rachel turned to look at Quinn. "So _don't fall_ , that's your solution? What if I do? I'm not getting back up from a fall like that. Put yourself in _my shoes_ for a moment."

"I can't Rachel. Your shoes are too small to," Quinn said frowning at Rachel. "It's really easy Rachel. Just take it step by step, and don't look down and you'll get to the top and you'll be done."

"That's surprisingly good advice," Rachel said with a sniff and Quinn looked at her. "But it still doesn't answer the question what happens if I _fall_. Surely there are people who fall off this all the time what happens to them?"

"They scream, then there's a thud. Then stop moving for a bit—but they get back up eventually. The commander says that's really important. The getting back up even though it really hurts. But if you fall I'll catch you, so you can keep trying." Quinn said as if it were obvious. She knew that Rachel wasn't like them.

Rachel looked at Quinn, for a moment before picking up the heavy rope. It was just a step at a time, until she reached the top. Quinn would be there to catch her if she fell. "After I go through this, the Commander said I need to learn self-defense. Are you going to be teaching me that?"

Quinn adjusted herself so she was behind Rachel in case she did fall, she wasn't very strong and it was most likely her arms would give out a few feet up in the air. "Yes. Do you want me to teach you how to shoot people in face properly so you don't waste bullets this time? You should always make sure your gun is loaded before you try and shoot someone. I told you that remember?"

"Yes, I also remember you kidnapping me," Rachel says as she takes a few steps forward. This isn't _easy_ , who said that this was easy? Her arms felt exhausted already and she was finding it difficult to pull herself up step by step. "You said this was _easy_."

"It is easy Rachel. It's a lot easier than a lot of things." Quinn said.

"Name one!"

"Killing someone." Quinn said before frowning. "No wait that's easy to. Being nice to people you don't like. Not killing people you don't like when they're mean. Is really difficult."

Rachel frowned as she took another step forward, "I _wanted_ to kill Finn—but it was hard. Even after I killed him I regretted it. Like what if I hadn't pulled the trigger? Would he still be alive? Would he have created another gang and be terrorizing people again? Did I do the world a favor?"

Quinn frowned at this, "Less talking Rachel, more climbing. And if you didn't kill him. I would have killed him. So you don't have to think that hard. He was going to die anyway." Rachel frowns at this piece of information and turns her head to ask Quinn a question only to see how high up she is. It shocks her that she's managed to go this far this quickly and Quinn is far away and she feels her grip loosen a bit and she feels herself slipping. "Don't look _down_ Rachel."

It was too late and she felt her arms go slack and her body began to plummet to the ground. She closed her eyes. She was going to die. She felt arms wrap around her tightly and the sound of feet hitting the ground. Rachel opened her eyes to see Quinn holding her. "I told you I was going to _fall_ ," she says immediately, frustration creeping into her voice. Quinn's arms are tight around her yet she easily manages to pull away and get on her feet.

"I told you I was going to catch you." Quinn said bluntly and then put Rachel on the ground. She hands Rachel the rope again. "Again."

Rachel flicked her eyes to the top of the wall again and grimaced, but took the rope. Quinn said she would catch her and she did. Her arms felt heavy and her body ached. Quinn was right she wasn't a soldier, but she was also right. This was easy compared to some of the things that she had done in her life. Sleeping with Finn came to mind. She shivered and pulled herself up. It was one step at a time. She could feel Quinn moving behind her to catch her again if she falls and it's comforting. She doesn't make it that high up this time and falls again and once again she feels Quinn catching her and putting her down. Once again Quinn hands her the rope and once again she tries to climb it and fails. The process repeats itself and she loses how count of how many times she's failed. It's frustrating and she feels like a failure. It's a stupid wall, that's it. It's just some stupid wall and she can't overcome it. There's probably some sort of metaphor for her life or something like that.

Rachel falls again and she feels Quinn catch her once again and she once again she gets put back on her feet except Quinn doesn't hand her the rope, instead Quinn pats her on the head. "Food now, I'm hungry."

Rachel's nose crinkles, "You were hungry before! Why didn't you just stop earlier?"

Quinn blinked slightly confused at the question, "You didn't say no?"

"You told me that getting back up was _important_! If I had known that I could have just quit any time I wanted I would have quit ages ago!"

"I said that _the Commander_ said that getting back up was important. Don't you listen to my words?" Quinn said frowning at this. "The Commander says a lot of things."

Rachel crossed her arms and pointed at the wall, "Have you even climbed that thing? Did you fall?"

"Of course I fell Rachel," Quinn said watching as Rachel relaxed at her words. "Charlie pushed me off the top," Quinn continued. "But that's only because I pushed her first." Quinn said as they left the obstacle course. "I got back up and climbed it again."

Rachel opened her mouth and then closed it, there was no arguing with Quinn that it wasn't what she meant at all. She sighs and shakes her head, "Can we just stop by the garage and pick up Santana before we swing by the mess hall?"

Quinn frowned at this she didn't want to eat at the mess hall, she wanted to go have lunch with Brittany on the roof of her building. She wanted to go eat bacon and have cake and drink whatever concoction Brittany had thought up because she was bored. That's what she wanted to do. But she sighed and nodded, she didn't understand why Brittany insisted that she do what _Rachel_ wanted to do. " _Fine_ ," she said. Charlie was going to eat all the bacon and drink everything and she wouldn't get any.

Rachel eyed Quinn who seemed to be sulking, "I thought you said you were hungry?"

"I _am_ , but Brittany that she'd make us something cause we helped Frannie out, and Charlie's probably there already eating everything." She might as well eat the crappy meal hall food with Rachel.

Rachel bit her lip, "Do you think that Brittany could teach me how to make some of the things she makes? I'd like to try something new and—well there wasn't much you could cook outside the walls. I mean we used hot plates and other things like that sometimes but I think I'd like to learn how to cook and bake and—"

"I _said easy_ , put it down _easily_. That's _not_ _easy_."

"Santana's angry again," Quinn says dryly and then smiles. "Want to go see who she punches in the face?" Quinn doesn't wait for an answer. If Charlie was going to eat all her bacon then she'd didn't get to watch Santana punch people in the face. Her nose crinkles when she smells Charlie who is sitting on the ground a bored expression on her face holding a chain that is attached to a pulley system which is holding up what appears to be a new engine block. "I thought you were with Brittany."

"Puck, Mike and Sam were complaining a lot so I threw Puck off the mess hall and then Mike and Sam yelled at me. I got bored of them yelling so I walked away, to see if Santana wanted to train some more. She said no cause she was busy. So I said I'd help because she doesn't complain as much as everyone else. So I'm helping and she's taking _forever_." Charlie says recounting her relatively uneventful day. "I haven't been to Brittany's yet. Because Santana says that I have to do this _slowly_ and that's boring." The chain in Charlie's hand slipped a bit.

 _"_ _Charlie!_ " Santana snapped at her.

"Sorry," Charlie mutters even though she's not really all that sorry. "She's being super bossy to."

Santana ignores her, "We're nearly done," she says, "Just a little bit more— _gently_."

Charlie rotates her body so she can watch and slowly lowers the engine down while Santana makes the minor adjustments, till the sound of the entire is put down and Santana lets out a sigh of relief. Immediately she drops the chain and gets up. "I'm hungry and this is boring."

"Race you to Brittany's?" Quinn said and smiled. "Winner gets the last piece of bacon," she was met with a competitive look from Charlie. She was about to take off when she felt Rachel tug on her arm.

"Can I go with you? I would like to talk to Brittany about those lessons?" Rachel asked.

Quinn glanced over at Charlie and then quickly looked over at Rachel. Rachel didn't really eat that much, but she wouldn't be able to keep up. Quinn frowned ever so slightly and placed her hands on Rachel's hips and lifted her, testing how much she weighed. Barely anything at all. "I'll carry you." Quinn says after a moment, it's the simplest solution. Carrying Rachel wouldn't slow her down.

Rachel's face twisted at that notion. She didn't want to be carried around like some child, while Quinn went swinging around the Citadel like some crazy person. It wasn't dignified and more importantly, she was now the public relations officer. How would it _look_? "I don't want to be thrown about like a child Quinn. We can just drive down there, we'll probably get there faster, instead of running through the Citadel."

Santana tilted her head from where she was working on the new engine that she had installed with Charlie, "Wait. You and Quinn are going to run there? Can I come? It'll help get me in shape for the fitness test right?"

"But our _race_ ," Quinn said and frowned, sulking a bit. She didn't want to take the car she felt like running and burning off some extra energy. She grumbles and looks at Rachel and then Santana and then Charlie. "Can she keep up?"

Charlie glanced at Santana for a moment. Their training basically consisted of them playing tag in the morning and she had yet to tag her, and she was modifying her speed so Santana wouldn't notice that she was moving faster every single time she began to catch up. She had gotten better, in the entire week that she had been training Santana she had gotten faster, even if she hadn't quite noticed that she had. "Not yet—and not while we're racing Quinn. So let's take a car and race up the building to see who gets the last bacon." Charlie turns to Santana who was scowling at this frustrated yet again. "I'll give you a head start on the way back."

Santana frowned, she hadn't been thrilled when Charlie had swatted her hard on the back and declared that she was _it_. Running after her was a pain in the ass, just always out of reach. Training wasn't supposed to be fun, it wasn't supposed to be liberating. It was supposed to be rigid, but Charlie didn't take _anything_ seriously, and she wondered if she was better off just going to ask Sue for training.

* * *

Freaking out was not the correct term for the sheer panic that was going through Brittany's mind as she checked the vials. She should have checked sooner, she should have gone to check the moment she knew that Russell knew about her vials of the twin's blood. Now two of the six vials was _missing_. She should have gotten rid of them, she knew she should have destroyed the samples. Charlie and Quinn were her friends and they had been through so much—but their blood could be the answer to a lot of things and she had always been planning to tell them. Eventually.

How was she going to tell them now, there was enough bacon in the world to get them to forgive her. She wasn't even sure what was worse, the idea that they might never forgive her and she'd lose her two friends or the idea that they might just be angry enough to kill her. But she had to tell them—well she had to tell _someone_. The great thing about being the smartest person in the Citadel was that there was _very_ little oversight. Which was why she was able to get away with turning the lab into a brewery or, creating synthetic bacon, and cocoa beans, and coffee, and whatever else she needed for the food she made. No one really cared if she was probably abusing the system. Even Frannie turned a blind eye to it, so she didn't _have_ a supervisor to turn her work into. She was the leading expert—in a lot of things. So there wasn't anyone that she could go to with the clearance that she had and tell them that she really did _fuck up._

Sure there were a few mishaps in the lab, where she stopped paying attention and left a few chemical compounds unattended. There were minor explosions and no one _seriously_ got hurt. But she had never messed up on this badly before. Brittany chewed on her lip nervously, trying to push the images of her untimely death aside and images of being alone again. She needed to focus on a solution. She wiped her eye, she was going to cry again. She just knew it. There was a knock on her door and she turned and blinked back her tears at Rachel. "Rachel? What are you doing here?"

Rachel blinked and frowned upon seeing Brittany crying. "Well the twins said that you had food for them, so we drove over. They are now racing up the building because they couldn't just enter the building like normal human beings. They're trying to push each other off the building so they can get to the top first. Santana's upset because Charlie said she couldn't join. Quinn then kicked Charlie off the building and she landed on the car, and dented it and now Santana's upset because there's a Charlie sized dent in the car that she has to fix. But enough about their craziness—are you okay? What's wrong?"

Brittany frowned, she had forgotten all about lunch. Now they were going to be mad at her for another reason entirely. She closed her eyes, and tried to steady herself. "Nothing," Brittany says quickly and gets up trying to figure out what she can make a lot of and quickly.

"Brittany?" Rachel prodded gently. Brittany looked on the verge of tears. "Do you want me to go get the twins—they'll probably just pat your head and tell you it's okay—but they're you're friends right?"

Brittany stiffened, she wasn't quite sure. The twins didn't quite view things normally, they wouldn't forgive her. No they'd view it as she had betrayed them that the experiments that they didn't really understand to begin with, was just a cover for her running project Gemini again. She wasn't quite sure that they _would_ understand. Even though she wanted them too desperately. Forgiving those that hurt you or did you wrong was not in their emotional wheelhouse. "Yeah—we're friends," she manages. "I'm sorry Rachel—but I've had a super busy day today, and I found out some samples were missing and I've forgotten to make lunch—so can you just tell them that it'll be a few minutes?"

Rachel winced thinking about going back up to the bickering and the yelling and the trying to throw each other off roofs and damaging cars and arguing over food. "Do you want some help? That's partly why I subjected myself to a car ride with the three of them."

Brittany paused and turned to Rachel, "You want to help?"

"Yes, I realize from how often Santana goes out to Combustion for food and other things that it's probably due to my cooking skills. Even Puck isn't exactly thrilled to eat what I make unless it's breakfast food and the twins always seem excited to eat what you bring them, so I was simply wondering if you teach me how to cook? It might keep Santana from going to Combustion and then looking like someone pounded on her face for fun."

Brittany smiled at this, "Food seems to work well on them, which is why they don't have rations. When the twins are hungry they get grumpy. Like really grumpy."

"Well I imagine it's better than them thinking they own our apartment, and they choose to use the facilities whenever they want."

"Well if you learn how to make treats Rachel, then you can just make them and use it as incentive to get Quinn out of your hair for a bit. Though you'll be doing a lot of cooking once you start. It might be nice not having to make them food whenever they want—which is all the time." Brittany said and bit her lip, and if they did never forgive her or kill her then at least someone knew how to keep them happy and fed.

* * *

Quinn had never been a patient person especially when there was food to be had, and she groaned loudly. "What's taking Rachel and Brittany so long?" She was hungry, and they had been really late so it shouldn't have taken them this long. Brittany should be up there with the food. She turned to Santana who was struggling to hit the target on the dartboard. "You need to go find them."

Santana frowned as she tossed the dart against the board, it at least hit the board this time. It was the first time in a long time that she hadn't hit the dart board, but it was far windier up here then it was inside a bar and she could see the challenge in it. She had to wonder if everything they did was to secretly train without people bothering them. But all they did was play games with each other, tag and darts, and there was a lot of pushing each other off things. Everything seemed to be some sort of competition between them, but after it was done they were just cool with one another. Santana huffed at Quinn. "If you want to know where they are with the food so badly, then _you_ go look for them."

Charlie hummed from where she was laying on the ground, her head resting on her military jacket which she had removed after the race she had lost. She had needed to make sure that Santana didn't fall off the roof and she had lost the race and Quinn wouldn't let her try and win it back through darts. "We can't." She said plainly and yawned curling up.

Santana turned to Charlie, "What do you mean _you can't_. It'll probably be easier for you two to get to see Brittany then Rachel. She doesn't even know where Brittany's office is."

Quinn shrugged answering for Charlie who looked like she would rather be taking a nap. "We're not allowed in the lab because Brittany says we scare all the scientists. It takes them forever to start working again, and we don't want to go. We don't _like_ going into labs. You're not that scary, so _you_ have to go Santana." Quinn said as if it were obvious. Unless it was a mission they didn't go into labs if they could help it. Laboratories gave them the creeps.

"Quinn's right, you're not scary if you yell and you look nice when you smile. Like you're having fun," Charlie says. "So don't yell at the unenhanced people, it makes the Commander mad and a lot of them wet themselves, when they think we're angry. I don't like it when they wet themselves it smell gross."

Santana stared at the two of them like they were lunatics, she had met some odd modified beings in her travels, people like her who had escaped and were free. Her story wasn't the worst, but she heard of some Citadels that made hers look like a utopia. She shook her head. "You two can wait for Brittany."

"I don't want to _wait_ ," Quinn says and shakes Charlie's side. "She's not doing what we say and I'm hungry. She's your responsibility, hold her over the edge and shake her till she does what we say."

" _Quinn_!" Brittany says firmly as she comes through the door with Rachel by her side. She was carrying a few containers of food and glanced at Santana. "You're not allowed to _bully_ people. Remember? Especially not Santana." Brittany smiled at her. "She's Charlie's responsibility and you're not supposed to be mean to the people you like right Charlie."

Charlie moved to get some food, "She's mean to me all the time and yells at me when I'm just trying to help. And she's bossy—why aren't you telling _her_ that?" Charlie asked crossing her arms over her chest. "I'm _always_ nice!"

"Nice wouldn't be using and stealing our stuff," Rachel muttered mostly to herself, and smiled. "So I helped Brittany make the food today—she said it tasted fine so you don't have to worry and I got a chemistry lesson and a biology lesson. I didn't quite understand all of it but Brittany said she'd give me some cookbooks."

"So Rachel will be able to cook for you if you really need her to," Brittany said. "I made plenty of bacon because there are three of you today. It's okay to eat as much as you want Santana and I'm sure Charlie will share her bacon with you."

Charlie turned to Brittany, "Why would I do that?"

"Because that's what nice people do," Brittany said looking at Charlie. "They share their food. They forgive their friends no matter what they've done, and they protect the people that they care about." Brittany flicked her eyes to Quinn who was studying her.

"Did Frannie hurt your feelings again. Because we can—" Quinn asked squinting at Brittany.

"No, it's not Frannie. I just had a really bad day at work," Brittany said ignoring the look Charlie gave Quinn. She wasn't lying. "I don't want to talk about it, but I did make some really good alcohol, you know they used to call it _moonshine_ , I was bored and I was looking into slang from before the 149."

Charlie took a piece of bacon and chewed it before reaching up and patting Brittany's head. "Brittany—do you need us to kill someone for you?"

"No killing," Brittany said with a smile. "I'll be fine, just a lot on my mind." Brittany said. She knew they'd notice something was up and she couldn't do it in front of Rachel and Santana. "Now, let's eat before it gets cold," she said as she handed Charlie the blanket and watched as the twins moved in tandem, laying out the large blanket and she sat down so they could enjoy their picnic on the roof.

* * *

It was just a moment to stretch her legs and check in with her lieutenants when she slammed into Santana Lopez, who smelled of grease and sweat. "Santana," she said watching as Santana immediately saluted her. "At ease," she said immediately. She crinkles her nose at Santana, "Pay attention and quit being lazy," Sue lectures her. She'd need to spot check people all day, while some people were hard at work others weren't. "What have you done today?"

"I'm putting in the new engines and I've been training today—well what I assume was training." Playing tag wasn't something that she did. She was used to drills. Calisthenics and grueling and punishing pain for those who didn't make the cut. She shivers and looks at Sue who is still waiting for something anything. "Is it possible for us to have a rematch?"

Sue studied Santana she was _far_ to brazen, however she liked that in most of her soldiers. Someone who had the courage and the ability to show her what she was made of. It was a dangerous game, but she was willing to make the plays to transform Santana from a pawn to something that mattered. "I don't usually make it a habit of fighting and beating my soldiers into the ground. Unless you're willing to take me up on that offer and have me train you properly. You have potential and I'd hate to see it squandered because you insist on being _just_ a mechanic."

Santana paused, Sue would probably be a difficult task master but she had seen her take out the twins like they were nothing and they did seem to respect her—and she was a bit tired of arguing with Charlie and playing with her all the time instead of training. She gritted her teeth last time Sue had caught her off guard last time and this time it was her time. She couldn't overthink this she just needed to move. She moved quickly entering Sue's personal space, and she saw a falsh of surprise on her face as she launched a kick towards her.

Sue barely had enough time to dodge that attack, moving backwards. This was new she was faster than before, much faster. But her moves were still the same flashy moves that they had always been. She was still projecting them, but it wouldn't matter if she was faster than everyone else. Sue pivoted hard, feeling the groan on her old bones and quickly slammed her fist hard into Santana's jaw. She watched as Santana crumpled to the ground and she grimaced and shook the pain out of her hand. She looked at Santana and nudged her with her foot. "Having a glass jaw, is hardly a good thing Santana. So get back—" Sue felt her legs give out from under her and she crashed to the ground.

Santana moved quickly trying to capitalize on the attack only to have Sue's legs twist up, and wrap around her neck, squeezing tightly. She tries to shift her weight and places her hand on Sue's stomach to try and power out only to realize what a stupid idea that had been when Sue locks her arm up and she feels the tension in her ligaments and she swears she can hear her muscles tearing. With her free hand she immediately taps hitting Sue's legs quickly. Almost immediately the pressure is gone and she hits the ground coughing and rubbing at her neck. " _Fuck_."

"Who's been helping you with your training," Sue asked completely unperturbed by the violence she had just displayed and the fact that she had forced Santana's submission. "You're faster than before."

Santana frowned she didn't feel faster, "Charlie—but she's just been goofing off and playing tag with me and not taking it seriously." Santana admitted. She coughed again and slammed her hand against the pavement. She'd never pass the fitness test like this.

Sue paused for a moment and studied Santana, she had spent months teaching the twins to control their strength. She had spent even longer making sure that they understood basic hand to hand combat, to shooting a gun. She tailored a lesson to each of their strengths and when she had taught them everything she could. But she rarely saw them using any of the styles unless they were taking it seriously. "The twins _rarely_ take anything seriously. However—whatever Charlie is doing is working. You should feel honored."

"We _play tag_. Which involves her smacking me on the back and announcing that I'm it and running away from me." Santana said crinkling her nose. "I'm not going to pass the fitness test."

"I suggest you try and run my obstacle course, and then look at the times that I posted as acceptable, before you start thinking you aren't going to pass the test. I will however train you in _proper_ hand to hand combat none of this flashy stuff that you seem to favor. It's embarrassing and no matter how fast and strong you are if you don't have the correct skills it all amounts to nothing. So instead of focusing on going to Combustion and getting your ass beaten by my soldiers who can see through your moves and is using that to win. I'll expect you outside my office every day after your day is done. I don't care how tired you are, if you want to learn, then blood and tears is hardly enough." With that Sue walked past her not bothering to look back.


	13. Chapter 13

“How many people have failed this year?” Sue asked glancing at Shannon Beiste, turning from her window where she had been looking at her soldiers attempting to pass her physical fitness test. It was a light version of what she made the twins go through every year, something which they normally passed with relative ease. But this year would be different, she had created something that she believed even Charlie and Quinn would have trouble with.

Shannon looked at the tablet in front of her and winced at the number which seemed to be growing. “So far about thirty percent. The rest are just _barely_ passing the time limit that you set. They are _completing_ the exam which is good, but it’s not good enough. As for some that are failing, some of them are _just_ failing, others aren’t even close. But we expected that.”

“Argon squad?” Sue asked and watched as Shannon frowned.

Shannon winced, everyone knew that Argon squad was the favorites. “Mike and surprisingly Sam passed. I wasn’t quite sure he had healed from his injuries just yet, but he beat the time limit by a second. Noah Puckerman on the other hand _didn’t_. He missed the limit by ten minutes.” Shannon replied and looked at Sue who didn’t exactly look thrilled by this information. “From what I understand, he’ll be retaking the exam later today.”

“Good. Each squad is only as good as their weakest link, if one member fails the entire squad fails,” Sue said briskly.

“That would mean that _most_ if not all of your squads will fail the fitness test. The fitness exam was harder than anything you’ve asked for before. You based the exam on the twin’s previous fitness tests. The ones that they personally had no trouble with. It’s quite a jump and you’re pushing them to the limits of their genetic modifications Sue.”

“Excellent, I need them to be _ready_. I can feel a war brewing and relying on the twins is a mistake, one that I was willing to make before. But we’re only as good as our weakest team and I refuse to have any more losses on my watch. Those that don’t pass the exam today, will be under your watch until they can pass the fitness test. If it takes them twice or a hundred times. _Everyone_ needs to pass. We need to be _ready_ , and we need to identify our weakest members. Or in Noah Puckerman’s case our laziest.” She was tempted to have the twins dangle him off the wall again but the last time they had nearly dropped him when his pants ripped. Sue moved to take a seat. “Who had the best times?”

“Quinn was first for the third year in a row. Charlie was nearly two minutes behind her.” Shannon said causing Sue to look up. “It’s nothing to worry about, the difference in time has more to do with the scuffle that they had on top of the wall that they needed to climb and Quinn pushing Charlie off. The people nearby heard some argument about bacon and then the next thing Charlie was crashing into the ground.”

Sue groaned at this, her head meeting her hands. She had told them that the obstacle course was _not_ a playground that she had built for them so that they could play on it. But they never listened, well she hoped that their personal fitness test was something that they’d find challenging. “Well that’s no surprise, how long did it take them?”

“On average they finished nearly thirty minutes in front of everyone else. Truthfully with the way they goofing off, I doubt that they were going as fast as they could go.”

“Of course they weren’t,” Sue said. “That would mean that they were taking it seriously and we both know that is never the case.” Sue said shaking her head.

“Then we have the usual suspects. Hunter Clarington’s time was third overall. Followed by Mike Chang, half a second behind him. Jesse St. James. Blaine Anderson. Ryder Lynn, Joseph Hart, Lauren Zizes, surprisingly.” Shannon began but frowned when things on her screen shifted. It was set to automatically update when people finished their times. “Hold on, something’s happening.” Shannon began to press the screen of the tablet and frowned slightly when nothing happened. “Give me a moment ma’am.”

Sue rolled her eyes and brought up the live feeds on her computer where Charlie was currently running through the obstacle course again, she seemed to be laughing and Sue frowned. She was about to get up and go down there when she noticed that Santana was merely a few feet behind her. The mechanics arm was reaching out as if she was trying to catch Charlie who was quickly approaching the wall. Charlie didn’t hesitate to start climbing the wall without the use of the rope, pushing herself up the concrete wall as Santana scrambled to follow. “What’s her time?” Sue asked.

“Right now her current time is better than Jesse’s—isn’t she the mechanic?” Shannon asked.

“Yes she is,” Sue said and frowned as she watched as Santana just missed grabbing onto Charlie’s foot as Charlie managed to twist out of the way as she simply jumped off the wall and onto the other side. It caused Santana to pause and look down before she swore and grabbed the rope and began to propel down quickly, before hitting the ground and chasing after Charlie who ducked her recent swipe and took off towards the finish line. Santana swore and followed Charlie still chasing after her until she too crossed the finish line. She didn’t seem to notice and walked up to Charlie and slapped her shoulder before dropping to the ground gasping for air. “Time?”

“As of right now she’s fourth with a time of a hundred and twenty-eight minutes and thirty-two seconds.” Shannon said. “She beat Jesse St. James by four minutes.” Shannon said impressed, she looked over at Sue who had a frown on her face. “Why aren’t you pleased?”

Sue looked at Shannon for a moment a long moment before turning back to Santana, watching as Charlie nudged her body with her foot. “Given the amount of time, Santana has sunk into preparing her passing is _hardly_ some gigantic surprise. What bothers me is that she like us was created by a government a much smaller government. I’ve been rebuilding her from the ground up when it comes to her combat skills and what bothers me is some small insignificant citadel in the south managed to modify someone who in theory could stand with the twins as our best. Which begs the question just _how good_ is their army. Because if Santana is just an average representation then we have a real problem on our hands and I need to push the rest of the army to be at least at that standard.” Sue said frowning, which would be a pain all on its own. It was something to pay attention to at the very least.

“Well, it’s going to take some time, and with a least a third of your army failing we’ve got our work cut out for us,” Shannon says.

Sue sighs, “We still have Rachel’s personal fitness test and I hope that the results are like Santana’s. If worst comes to the worst we might have to put the twins in charge of general fitness. It might give them something to do. Look at what they did with Santana and as far as I know Charlie was just playing with her.”

“Sure if you want a revolt on your hands. Saying the entire army won’t like it is putting it _very_ mildly. The moment that they’re annoyed you _know_ they’re going to throw someone off a building.” Shannon said shaking her head. “We’re going to have half of our army in the infirmary by lunch.”

“You’re right. After the twins vacation that they earned, make sure to tell them what their new duties are. I’m sure the army will be thrilled. Anyone who complains well I’m sure the twins can deal with that however they like. Do remind them not to kill anyone.” Sue said and reached for the microphone that she had on her desk so she could give the troops a small pep talk. “You think this is hard? Try killing the 149 with your bare hands. Now _that_ was hard.” Words of wisdom from a one Sue Sylvester.

There was a knock on the door and both Sue and Shannon looked up to see Brittany S. Pierce standing at the door. She looked terrible, and it was obvious she hadn’t been sleeping, the guilt eating away at her. Going straight to Sue seemed to be the smartest move, at the very least she could control the twins. “We need to talk—privately.” Brittany said swallowing and looking at Shannon.

Sue raised a brow, “You can schedule a meeting just like everyone else Brittany. I already know that you’re basically shoving junk food onto the twins, which is probably why their times have been slower. We can discuss how you can fix that for me at a later time. In case you haven’t noticed I am currently running intense fitness exams for the entirety of my army. Plus I need to supervise the twin’s fitness exam.”

“Plus you have that meeting with William and the rest of the council to watch Rachel take her own fitness exam,” Shannon reminded her.

“So whatever it is Brittany—” Sue began turning her attention back to the screen where she watched as Quinn was now sitting over Santana poking her and Charlie was still nudging her with her foot and sighed.

“Vials of the twins blood is _missing_ ,” Brittany hissed at Sue who immediately looked up.

“ _What_?” Sue frowned and looked at Shannon who immediately excused herself and closed the door. “Tell me _everything_.”

* * *

 

“There isn’t a time limit Rachel, so you can go at your own pace. Sue just wants to see you finish it,” Quinn reminded Rachel as she watched her stretching out her muscles. Quinn tilted her head as Rachel bent over only to be smacked by Santana. Quinn turns to her and crinkles her nose. “I liked it better when you couldn’t move,” she says bluntly.

It was then that Santana realized that Charlie should definitely have been the one to push Quinn off the god damn wall. “I liked you better when I kept on mistaking you for Charlie,” Santana says and watches as Quinn’s nose crinkles.

Quinn shoves Santana off the bench, smirking when there’s a thud. She turns to Rachel again and watches her. “Sue says that I can’t physically help you at all. So I can’t catch you if you fall off the wall, but she made it smaller. But I think because you’re so short it’ll still look rather big.” Quinn ignores the scowl from Rachel as she continues. “So just remember to take it one step at a time.”

Santana grunts as she pushes herself up, her muscles ache but in the good way and she really can’t believe that she managed to pass the first time around. “Just don’t look down, that’s what I did Rachel. Just focus on getting to the top. The propelling down is _so_ much easier.” Santana offers, she frowns for a bit. “Where’s Charlie?”

Quinn hummed, “I had to help Rachel and Puck needs to pass or our entire team fails. So Charlie went to go motivate Puck. I need to motivate Rachel so we can have our vacation.” Quinn said with a smirk. A week where they could do whatever it is they wanted to do. They hadn’t quite decided _what_ they wanted to do just yet.”

“When you say motivate?” Rachel asks causing Quinn to turn to her as she takes a sip of water. Keeping hydrated was important as was stretching. All she needed to do was complete the obstacle course and she’d pass. “I thought you didn’t like sleeping with Puck.”

Quinn crinkled her nose in disgust, “Charlie’s not doing _that_. We’re not allowed to sleep with members on the same squad. Besides Puck is gross! And besides it’d be easier to motivate him that way with—” Quinn closes her mouth. It’s supposed to be a secret.

“With?” Rachel prompts.

“Sam,” Santana says filling in the gaps and Quinn turns to her. “Oh please, _everyone_ knows. They’re _terrible_ at hiding it, they smell like each other and sex all the time. Which is impressive considering that Puck _always_ smells like sex.”

“It’s a _secret_ , Sam said we weren’t allowed to talk about it,” Quinn said and frowned and waved her hand at it. She honestly didn’t _get_ why it was such a big deal and why people cared. She personally broke more rules than like anyone else and Sue didn’t care. So long as they passed their fitness test no one cared what they did.

Rachel exhales slowly and looks at Quinn, “Even if you aren’t going to help me—you’ll still be there right? Charlie was there for Santana’s fitness test.” Quinn caught her, she trusted Quinn to catch her. She could do everything else within a reasonable time but she wasn’t sure if she could climb the stupid thing without Quinn there. Yes she had done it in practice _eventually_ but it was comforting to know that Quinn was going to catch her.

Quinn stops making faces at Santana and looks back at Rachel, “Don’t worry Rachel, I’ll be there to catch you when you fall because you didn’t listen me and looked down.” Quinn says and reached over to pat Rachel’s head. “Just take it one step at a time till you’re done and remember the wall is smaller now. It—”

“I am _not_ short! I am at a perfectly reasonable and average height for a woman,” Rachel snaps at Quinn who flashes her a rather patronizing smile and she huffs. She wasn’t that short. She had met people who were smaller than her and it wasn’t fair that Quinn made fun of it all the time with all the little comments.

Quinn gets up and pats Rachel on the head, “If you do a good job and don’t fall, I’ll let you have sex with me.” Quinn said and she was met with a dull look from Rachel.

“I thought you were supposed to _reward_ her with something she wants not something you want,” Santana says in a flat tone and Quinn scowls at her.

“It is what she wants, tell her Rachel.” Quinn says looking back at Rachel a smile on her face.

“I’d rather you stop breaking into our apartment and stealing our things,” Rachel says just as dryly and Quinn’s face falls for a moment. Rachel ignores it, if Brittany could teach Quinn and Charlie some manners and social norms she could make Quinn understand personal space.

“Okay.” Quinn says after a moment.

“Wait—seriously? You’re going to stop breaking into my apartment whenever you feel like it?”

“Yes, but you have to do a good job,” Quinn says rather earnestly.

Rachel smiles, “I will—you won’t even need to catch me,” Rachel says. She can do this if it means that she might actually get her way with Quinn. “Well I should probably head outside and get ready,” she says stretching her arms once more and walking out.

Santana tilts her head to Quinn who has a pleased smirk on her face. “She doesn’t want you breaking in anymore. I don’t see why that’s got you all happy.”

“She still wants to see me naked though,” Quinn retorts and watches as Santana blinks and she smiles proudly before leaving Santana on the ground so she could go help Rachel.

Santana groans and lays back down, she really wishes that Charlie had been the one to push Quinn off the god damn wall. Then things would be considerably more interesting, and probably a bit more helpful. It had actually not been that bad playing tag with Charlie while doing her stupid fitness test. All she knew was that she had passed the official stats would come out after everyone was finished.

* * *

 

“As you can see, I expect excellence from _all and any_ man or woman serving in this branch.” Sue said as she watched as her men climbed. “Failing isn’t a bad thing William, it just shows you where you have to improve. They don’t quit. Look at Noah Puckerman, fine soldier part of the Argon Squad. Failed the test earlier today and is now taking it seriously. As you can see Charlie is embodying what I preach. You are only as strong as your weakest link and she is making sure that Noah passes his fitness test. This is the third time that she’s run this exam _today_.” Sue said looking at the council members and smiling as she spewed the bullshit that the rest of the council was currently buying into.

Will scoffed at this idea, “You accuse me of lowering standards, yet you’ve done the same thing with your army. A forty-five percent failure rate for a fitness exam? I have a two percent failure rate, what’s your solution going to be?”

“Train them until they can. I am always increasing my standards and right now this is the new gold standard at least for the next six months till I test them yet again. It’s a new era and I plan on pushing them until we start reaching their limits.” Sue responds. “We were caught off guard and I _refuse_ to let that happen again.” Sue smirked mostly to herself as she heard Charlie’s yelling at Puck to move his ass, before she dragged him to the wall and threw him off. Sue looks over at Frannie who is watching the fitness exam with rapt interest. “Still think it’s a waste of resources?”

“Whatever that _thing_ that attacked us was—you’ve proved your point that genetically modified beings are necessary. It’s about time you took the defense and safety of our citizens seriously Sue.” Frannie said diplomatically.

Russell however wasn’t having it, “This might not be a waste of resources, but it certainly is a waste of time. I fail to see why we’re here, apart to see how badly you mismanage your army. Like William said a forty-five percent failure rate is nothing to be proud about. Especially given the resources we give you and you asked for.”

“Like I said, I’m simply raising standards Russel. Because despite what you may believe, relying on just _two_ people to shoulder the burden of protecting us against the 149 or any other threats, well that’s simply foolish. There may very well be a huge chasm that separates the twins and the rest of the soldiers, but that doesn’t mean our armies can coast as they have been doing. Hoping that the twins will be the _saviors_.” Sue explained briskly eying Russell and then looking at Will, even though she had promised the twins a vacation work needed to be done. “The real reason you’re here is to prove a point about standards. William would have you believe that his _men_ can’t do what we can do, and while the time limit that I imposed is hardly fair to unenhanced people, the idea that they can’t raise standards so that they really get the best men and women for the job. Integration is important, and I’ve stated over and over again that I’m _willing_ to integrate however I will not leave my men in the incompetent hands of William Schuester. He could never manage the twins, let alone all the strong personalities. So to prove how serious I am, the one _unenhanced_ person n my ranks, my public relations officer will be attempting to pass the fitness test. Which by the way is more intense than anything that William’s men have to go through. She’s not trained as a soldier, and hopefully she’ll never have to fight on the front lines, but she is currently in better shape than most of William’s men.”

“That’s impossible, my men are well trained and I doubt your tiny little public relations officer could do what my _men_ are capable of doing.” Will says and crosses his arms over his shoulder as he looks at the intense obstacle course. He gives Sue a smug look, he’s about to say something more when Russell interrupts.

“William, that’s enough. Let’s just see what that genetically modified sympathizer can accomplish.” Russell says calmly, shaking his head in disgust. He had just confirmed that his men wouldn’t be able to do Sue’s insane obstacle course and he was making himself look bad. This couldn’t stand.

Sue crossed her legs, “That’s the real problem William, you’re using the excuse that we’re genetically enhanced as a way to give your men the pass. They don’t have to be genetically modified, some people are just born with natural ability. But natural ability isn’t all it takes. It takes hard work and perseverance and skill. I personally doubt that Rachel has that ability, but she’s more than made up for it with her perseverance and hard work.” Sue said watching as Rachel crawls underneath a long patch of barbwire, the ground underneath had become slick and muddy and she struggles to make it pass under it.

Shannon leans in to Sue’s side, “Noah Puckerman passes, his time was seventeenth overall,” Shannon murmurs, as he passes the finish line.

“Excellent, have Cassandra start whipping everyone who failed a second time into shape they have a three days to pass the test or their entire squad has to do the fitness test again.” Sue said shaking her head. Sue tilts her head towards the rest of the council. “As you can see my men are _motivated_ to not fail, they take their failure and they push to do better. Rachel is a fine example she tried and tried again, until she could run this obstacle course that is giving my own men difficulty. All she needs to do is complete it. Your trained soldiers on the other hand would have a time limit, nothing of course as strict as the one that I have for my men but they are supposed to be in peak health.”

William gritted his teeth as Rachel finally got past one of the challenges and was moving towards yet another section. “This doesn’t prove _anything_.”

“Actually it proves everything. I’m better than you and it has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I was genetically modified as a child.” Sue said crossing her legs.

* * *

 

Charlie nudged Puck with her foot, he was so incredibly out of shape it was embarrassing. “Puck, you said you’d take me to Combustion tonight, and I want to dance and fight and drink with everyone else who passed. You’re still not allowed to touch me though. But I think Sam will have sex with you but only if you can move. You shouldn’t just lie there when you and Sam are having sex. It’s _rude_.” Charlie said as she continued to nudge Puck with her foot as she gave him sex advice.

“Sam likes it when he gets to do all the work, now shut up and let me die in peace.” Puck groans his head hitting the ground.

“That’s not very nice.” Charlie said as she continues to nudge him with her foot. “I helped you pass! So you should take me dancing before you have boring sex with Sam.”

Puck weakly swatted her leg, “Find some other sucker to take you dancing Charlie—how the hell you have this much energy and you ran the stupid thing three times is beyond me.”

“It’s cause you’re out of shape, you need to have better sex. That’s what Quinn does.” Charlie said simply and she frowns when her boot gets swatted again. She _really_ doesn’t like Puck sometimes and she makes a face. “Fine I’ll go find someone else, but I’m never helping you again.” she says before storming off.

“Good!” Puck calls out and leans back still forcing air into his lungs. Threats to throw him off buildings and poking him in the side whenever he slowed down was enough to force him to bust his ass. God she was worse than his own sister.

Charlie grumbled people wanted her help and then they didn’t do _shit_ afterwards. She was going to find Quinn and take her to combustion they both needed a reward. She eyed Rachel who was attempting to climb the wall with Quinn hovering under her. “Quinn let’s go to Combustion,” Charlie says immediately trying to pull Quinn along.

Quinn shrugs Charlie off, “Not now Charlie, I have to make Rachel doesn’t fall.”

Charlie frowned at this and she threw her hands up and stormed off, she was going to push Quinn off a building the next time they were racing and she huffs and heads back to go by herself. She sighs and runs a hand through her muddy hair and she frowns she should probably shower first before she goes anywhere and she heads to the locker room where she spots Santana getting dressed. “Santana, you’re taking me to Combustion and you’re going to dance with me and you’re not allowed to say no.” Charlie said crossing her arms over her chest.

Santana turned to Charlie and eyed her for a moment, she had planned to head to combustion anyway and drink with everyone else. “Okay.”

“You can’t—” Charlie blinks at this, she was about to repeat herself. “Okay. I need to shower and then we can go dance and drink and we can have fun.” Charlie says pleased that someone is doing what she wants and she doesn’t have to threaten them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also want to mention, that I do have a tumblr and a patreon. You get an idea of where my updates are, and you can donate if you want to.  
> http://astarpen.tumblr.com/  
> https://www.patreon.com/astarpen


	14. Chapter 14

“I fail to see why we have to celebrate at Combustion,” Rachel said grumbling. No matter how much she tried to clean it up and turn it into a respectable establishment it didn’t seem to be happening, and going with Quinn generally meant that sometime during the night she’d lose her clothes and go find someone to have sex with. Though this was only after asking her to have sex.

Mike smiled at the question, “You’re one of us now Rachel, and this is where we go to blow off steam. No one is going to treat you like one of the unenhanced that just like to come here and sleep with us. So you’ll be treated with respect. Still though—I suggest you stick close by. It might get a bit rowdy tonight.”

Rachel smiled at Mike and then flicked her eyes at Quinn, “Does that mean you’re going to stop getting naked in front of me?”

Quinn smiled at Rachel, “Do you want me to?”

“ _Yes!_ ” Rachel said but Quinn laughs. She didn’t quite understand why Quinn didn’t take her complaints seriously. She huffs, maybe she should try the Brittany method and just make Quinn bacon whenever she behaved. Though the twins still argued over who had to try her food first, she hadn’t quite gotten the hang of making bacon much to their general chagrin.

Quinn was about to say something when the window smashed as someone was thrown through it and there is cheering. She bends down and pokes him in the face and crinkles her nose, he smells like a brewery. “Charlie’s having fun already—I told you we’d be late Mike. I’m not waiting for you again.” She says as fight chants fill the air.

It feels like her first night in Citadel and Rachel’s mouth twists, “I simply don’t understand why every single time you go to Combustion there is a lot of property damage Quinn. Can’t you all simply drink and I don’t know play cards quietly?”

“That’s boring Rachel,” Quinn informed Rachel, she was about to say something else when she tilts her head to Combustion. “We have to go inside now, Charlie’s going to fight Santana!” Quinn said with an amused expression on her face. She gets up and grabs Rachel by the arm and pulls her inside shoving people out of the way so they can get a good view of the fight. Charlie had said that Santana was good, but she really wanted to see.

“What do you _mean_ they’re going to fight? Quinn, Charlie’s going to kill her!” Rachel said immediately, panic flitting through her body as she finally watches Santana who looks mildly annoyed at Charlie who spots Quinn.

Charlie huffed as she moved to Quinn ignoring Santana for a moment, “Quinn, I need your help with the smack talk,” Charlie said crossing her arms over her chest.

Santana raised a brow at this action and raised her voice so everyone could hear her. “I thought you wanted to fight me. I didn’t know you needed Quinn to fight your battles for you,” Santana snapped at Charlie.

Charlie tilted her head at Santana and covered Quinn’s mouth before she could speak up for her, she wasn’t going to let Santana win. “I don’t need Quinn’s help,” she stated.

“Maybe I should just fight her then, since you can’t fight your own battles,” Santana threw in. Frustrating Charlie was the plan so she’d make a mistake that she could capitalize on it. Well that was the idea anyway. Judging from the frustrated look on Charlie’s face as she tried to think of a comeback without Quinn’s help was amusing.

“You—well you’re a—you’re just going to lose cause—you’re out of shape.” Charlie said crossing her arms over her chest.

“I passed my fitness test remember,” Santana says and smirks at Charlie, when there’s a bit of laughter at her expense. “Look you’re embarrassing yourself, how about we get this over and I kick your ass for everyone to see and then you can go crying to Quinn.”

Charlie pulled away from Quinn and began to walk towards Santana who immediately put her hands up. Rachel frowned at this. “Quinn you have to stop this Charlie’s going to _kill her_.”

“No she’s not, Sue will be mad if we kill Santana, so Charlie’s just going to play with her for a bit until Santana gives up. Or she might throw her through a window—what’s left of it,” Quinn said leaning forward as she watched the first exchanges, Santana throwing the first punch which Charlie side steps and immediately smacks her in the face. “See _playing_ ,” Quinn says.

Santana burned as she tried again this wasn’t Sue, who she noticed was much slower than she had originally thought. Hopefully one of the many lessons Sue had taught her would come in handy. Charlie wasn’t even keeping her damn hands up. She was that confident or arrogant that she wasn’t going to land a clean blow, and that smack to the face had hurt a lot. So maybe getting Charlie of all people annoyed was not her smartest and well thought out plans. But it was too late to tap out now. She barely has time to dodge the punch that Charlie sends her way and she can actually hear the whistling past her ear. That one would have definitely hurt. She throws another punch at Charlie who smacks her arm away and begins to pepper her with punches, which _hurt_. She frowned slightly there was one thing she could try on Charlie, a trick that had served her well to take down people who were bigger than her. She waited until Charlie’s arm extended out before throwing herself on the ground shifting her hips forward so her legs can wrap around Charlie’s leg, the pressure causing Charlie to fall back onto her ass surprised. Santana doesn’t hesitate, as she moves before Charlie can recover, sliding her body forward, and trapping Charlie’s leg and locking it in place. She doesn’t hesitate to grab Charlie’s ankle forcing it onto her side as she locks her arm around the ankle and immediately pulls her body back, putting a tremendous amount of pressure and torque on Charlie’s knee and her ankle and possibly her hip.

Charlie blinked as she suddenly felt a tremendous amount of pain and she immediately tried to power out of it by twisting her body so she could have a bit of leverage to kick Santana in the face and get her off. But that only made the pain worse and immediately slapped her hand against the ground repeatedly, tapping out of the fight. Santana let go immediately and there was a hush that fell upon Combustion as Charlie clutched her injured leg. It doesn’t quite hit her that she’s lost. Her leg still hurts. “Quinn, it _hurts_.”

The room is still silent as Quinn moves immediately entering the makeshift ring and moves to Charlie’s side. She places a hand on Charlie’s head gently. She pets her twin for a moment, she was still in shock. Charlie only tapped to her, and occasionally Sue. But they _let_ Sue win because she was old and they didn’t want to hurt her. She flicked her eyes to Santana who actually looked guilty. She’d throw her off a wall later, but right now she just needs to calm Charlie down. She wouldn’t have tapped if it hadn’t hurt. She knew her twin. She had watched her shrug off getting shot in the shoulder. She taps Charlie’s forehead gently and her twin stops moving and looks at her and Quinn taps her forehead again, “You got caught,” Quinn explains.

Charlie’s face twisted at this and then she frowned deeply, not quite enjoying that sensation. She didn’t get caught except by Quinn and Sue. “It hurts,” Charlie repeats herself and grimaces. “Sue never taught us how to defend against that,” Charlie whispered to Quinn.

Quinn frowned, Charlie didn’t get caught ever, Sue had never taught them that, and Charlie had been caught unaware, unsure how to deal with the submission maneuver. “Can you walk?” Quinn asks. Charlie moves her foot from side to side and nods and Quinn pulls back and stands up and offers her hand to her twin who tests out her leg. Quinn blinks and looks around noting that everyone is still looking at them. “ _What_?” Quinn says loudly narrowing her eyes.

Charlie tugs on Quinn’s arm, “I lost,” Charlie said crinkling her nose, slightly irritated at herself. She scratched her head. “I want to drink now,” she informs her sister. Now incredibly bored with the whole thing.

“I’m next.”

Santana tilted her head to the person who spoke and frowned when she spotted Hunter who was cracking his knuckles. Santana immediately held up her hands. “I’m not fighting.” She hadn’t really meant to hurt her, but maybe she had locked it in too tight. This was why she didn’t fight, she didn’t want to kill anyone else, or hurt people. She didn’t like it when she hurt people.

“ _Not you_ ,” Hunter tilted his head to look at Santana his nose crinkling in disgust. “It was obvious that you got a sucker punch on her,” Hunter said dismissing her completely. There was blood in the water and now was the time to get a bit of payback.

Quinn glanced around and noticed people beginning to move nodding towards Hunter. She sighed she just wanted to have sex, or have Rachel watching her have sex, while getting irritated with her. She never stopped watching, Quinn smiled at the idea. “Do you want me to break his face?” Quinn asked turning to Charlie.

Charlie was about to respond when she noted that Santana had tapped him on the shoulder causing him to turn to her. Her lips twisted upwards as she watched Santana kick him in the face, causing Hunter to drop to the ground. The smile disappeared after a moment when he didn’t get right back up and Charlie crinkled her nose. “Did you kill him?” Charlie asked looking at Santana.

Santana blinked, it was one thing to fight Charlie on relatively equal footing it was another thing completely to go after someone weak and injured just because he could. She eyed Hunter, and looked up at Charlie and Quinn who were still looking at his prone body. “ _Fuck_. Maybe?”

Quinn shrugged her shoulders, “Well. I never liked him anyway.”

Mike groaned and entered the ring to make sure that Hunter wasn’t dead, that would be difficult to explain. “He’s still breathing,” he says after holding his hand under his nose and feeling the moving air. He turned to the rest of chromium squad. “Get him out of here.”

Charlie shook her head at Santana, “Next time kick him harder. He’s got a thick head,” she informed Santana giving her a bit of advice. She eyed Santana, it was the first time anyone other than Quinn and the rest of Argon squad had come to her defense. She really didn’t need it as she pulls away from Quinn and rubs the back of her head. “Who’s next?” Jesse moves forward immediately and immediately goes for her injured leg.

Santana winced and closed her eyes, if she had known that winning a fight against Charlie would lead to people trying to hurt her some more in some sort of retribution, she never would have done it. Instead there wasn’t even a playful look in Charlie’s eye as she brings the injured leg up fast and there’s a sickening thud as bone meets bone and Jesse drops to the ground. Santana looked around the room that was still quiet. That dominant display seemed to be enough to cause everyone to settle down, as people who had been looking to pick a fight with Charlie immediately settled down. Santana grimaced as Charlie nudged Jesse with her foot. “Did _you_ kill him?”

Jesse lets soft groan and rolls over, his face a mess of blood and it’s obvious that Charlie’s knocked out a few teeth in the exchange. Charlie huffs at this. “No.” She nudges him again with her foot and then turns to Quinn, “So about that drink?” Quinn laughs and lets Charlie lean on her again as she walks towards the bar passing Santana and causing Charlie to look at her. “Best two out of three?”

Santana hesitates and looks at Jesse and then at Charlie, “Fine.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also want to mention, that I do have a tumblr and a patreon. You get an idea of where my updates are, and you can donate if you want to.  
> http://astarpen.tumblr.com/  
> https://www.patreon.com/astarpen

**Author's Note:**

> Well, I hope that you enjoyed this very first chapter of Beautiful Pain, in the next chapter we're going to meet Brittany, and stuff happens. I really do enjoy reviews so if you can drop me a line that would be awesome.


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